Beauty and the Beast
by Electronic-Star
Summary: Aerith's living a normal life, but suddenly she met a man with...features you don't see often.    Clerith! ;3
1. The Stranger from the Woods

**A.N.** First of all: it's NOT what you think it is. It's something COMPLETELY different.

Normal POV

„talking"

_Clouds/Aeriths thoughts_

„_Wolves talking to each other"_

**Disclaimer –** I don't own FFVII or other character who appears in this fanfic

**Beauty and the Beast**

Chapter 1: The Stranger from the Woods

In a big town, named Midgar, was a black figure, who jumped from roof to roof to escape. That man was completely dressed in black, with a black cowl and his face was cloaked by its hood. _I wonder if they're still tracking me..._, the man thought and sniffed the air, whereupon he began to chuckle quietly. _I left them behind as I arrived this town._

He came to a halt on a church's roof. _Then there's no need for me to hurry. I wonder where I am..._Just as the man wanted to rest, to figure out where he is, the boards underneath him began to crack loudly, but before he could do something the roof collapsed and he fell into the church.

* * *

><p>„Mom, I'm off!", called a young woman to her mother. „Where are you going, dear?", the mother, named Elmyra, asked her daughter. „The church of course. Someone has to take care of the flowers."<p>

„Aerith.", the mother called her before she could go. „Please be careful.", Elmyra said with a worried expression. They both knew that Midgar could be dangerous, especially for a girl, and Elmyra is always worried to death whenever Aerith left the house. „Sure, mom.", Aerith replied and smiled sweetly at her mother and left her house.

Aerith scampered through the streets of Midgar, her chestnut brown hair, which is tied in a braid with a pink ribbon, swings back and forth which each step. She wore a light pink dress, which reached to her lower leg and a red jacked which only just covered her chest.

She examined her surroundings, for something dangerous, with her emerald green eyes. She knew that the streets aren't dangerous in the morning hour, but she promised her mother to be careful. Aerith looked up to see the upper plate, which prevented the townspeople, who lived down here in the Slums, to see the sky or the sun. But Aerith didn't really care not to see the sky, because she's afraid of it.

A few minutes later she arrived the church of Sector 5 and entered it. The church itself is a bit destroyed, like there are holes in the roof and the windows, but it's still a beautiful place to go, because in the center of the church, near the altar, is a flower bed.

As she arrived the center she knelled down to tend her self planted flowers, which are mostly white and yellow lilies, but with a few others. But suddenly she heard something crack from above and before she even realized what happened a man crashed down and landed softly on the flowers.

Aerith looked down at the man, who lied unconsciously on her flower bed, in surprise. He had spiky blonde hear and was dressed in a black vest-shirt with one sleeve on his left arm, black pants, black shoes and other also black accessory like a shoulder-guard with a silver, shiny wolf on it. But what surprised her the most was the fact that he has ears and a tail of a wolf!

The man began to stir and to groan quietly, while Aerith snapped out of her daze. „H-hey, can you hear me?" Aerith waited for a while, but he didn't reply. „Hellooo~!", she called him, who slowly regained consciousness again. „Hellloooo~!", Aerith called again and now his eyes fluttered open.

Aerith couldn't help but stare at his bright, sapphire blue eyes, which reminded her of the sky, but it wasn't really scary at all.

The man looked around in confusion until their eyes met. _An...angel?_, he thought as he stared up at her, examining her and locked his eyes once again with her own. As he looked into her eyes he noticed that he never saw such a bright, sparkling green before, not even in his home and there's a lot of green. But then it hits him and his eyes widened. _A human!_ He quickly got up in a sitting position and backed away from her while he glared at her and bared his teeth, his wolf ears laid out in a defensive manner.

Aerith could see a pair of tiny fangs and stared at him in shock. The man began to growl quietly in hope that the girl would run away from him, but she didn't, instead her expression turned into wonder and curiosity. Aerith got a bit closer to him and reached out, but he backed away from her again and began to growl louder, but she didn't budged.

Suddenly Aeriths expression turned into amusement and she smiled warmly at the stranger, who raised an eyebrow at her weird manner. „What?", he yelled at her and Aerith couldn't help but like the sound of his voice even if it was cold and emotionless. „You're afraid of me.", Aerith stated in amusement, while his eyes widened unnoticeable, but then glared more fierily at the girl.

The man froze for a moment as she talked to him, all he could think of was how soft her voice was, until he realized what she just said to him. „I'm not afraid of some little girl!", he yelled, still hoping that she would finally run away, but she still didn't budged. _What the hell's wrong with that girl? Every normal human would be over the hills and far away._

„Oh, and why are you so defensively, like I would hurt you any moment?", she asked him, her amusement raising with every second as the blonde man didn't reply. „Come on, I won't hurt you.", she said teasingly and held a hand to him, still smiling sweetly at him, while all of a sudden the blonde man's cheeks got a light pink color.

He slowly reached out to take her hand, but quickly let his hand fall again and glared at her again. Aerith began to giggle at his behavior, while he just continued to glare at her. „What's so funny?", the blonde man growled in annoyance. „You! You're really afraid of a little girl.", Aerith said teasingly, while he just continued to growl. „Look, I don't have any weapons, I'm completely defenseless. You could simply attack me.", the green eyed girl said, still amused.

_She's right...Why didn't I attack her?_, the man wondered. „Um, hey? Do you mind if you could go out of my flower bed?", she asked him, as she noticed he's still sitting in the middle of her flower bed. „Hm?" Cloud tilted his head a bit, his ears perked up, standing upright instantly, and he finally noticed too that he's sitting on flowers. _That's why it smelled so good..._He didn't really noticed it, because his full attention was on this girl. The man quickly got up and went out of the flower bed, with a safety gab in between him and that weird girl.

Suddenly he felt that something's missing...his cowl's gone! He looked around hectically and noticed it hung on some wooden boards on the roof. That means she saw his ears and tail, and she wasn't afraid of him. „You're not afraid of me?", he asked her with a raised eyebrow.

„Should I?", she asked back and tilted her head.

The man blinked in surprise. He just met a human, who isn't afraid of him and didn't hate him either. _She's really a weird girl..._„Of course you should! I'm a monster!"

„Monster?" Aerith examined him, while the blonde man felt his cheeks began to heat up a bit. „You don't look like a monster to me.", she said and smiled sweetly at him. „Now...", he mumbled and looked to the ground. His ears perked up as the wooden boards began to crack and he looked up to see Aerith's walking towards him. He backed away from her again, but she still kept going to him. „May I...?", asked Aerith and reached up to touch his ear and was a bit surprised as he nodded slightly. He looked to the ground again, to hide his growing blush. _Tch! What's wrong with me? Why am I blushing? And why did I allow her to touch me?_

As he felt her small fingers brushing against his right ear he began to shiver a bit. He couldn't help but enjoy her light touch and on top of it: he just discovered his weak spot. Aerith looked in amazement as she stroke his ear. _It's real..._, she thought and continued to stroke his ear. His fur felt so wonderful plushy on her fingers.

The blonde man just stood there, totally frozen and didn't know if this situation is either pleasant or awkward, but he closed his eyes to only concentrate on her soft touch, his wolf tail swinging back and forth in a fast, steady rhythm.

_Never thought it'd feel so good to be stroked by someone..._, he thought and sighed quietly in relaxation. „What's your name?", Aerith asked him, while he opened his eyes and looked at her. „...Cloud.", he replied hesitantly. It's the very first time a human isn't afraid of him, talked to him, touched him, didn't hate him and wanted to know his name.

„Cloud, huh?", the green eyed girl repeated, while Cloud couldn't help but like the way she said his name with her angelic voice. _She's cute...I mean...for a human._, he thought, his blush growing once again. „I'm Aerith.", she introduced herself and smiled happily at him. _Aerith...The name is just as beautiful as you are..._, Cloud thought but quickly dismissed it again.

Aerith noticed his tail, which is still swinging and began to smile. _He's so cute._, she thought and began to blush a bit. They stayed like this for a while before Aerith removed her hand, while Cloud had to suppress a low groan of disappointment. „Um...", Aerith began hesitantly, while Cloud looked to her. „What are you exactly?", she asked him, while he raised an eyebrow.

„You mean you don't know?" Aerith just looked bewildered at him and shook her head. _That's why she's not afraid of me...She doesn't even know what I am._ „I'm a wolf.", Cloud replied plainly. „Eh? But you don't look like a wolf."

„It's just a disguise."

„I didn't knew that wolves can change into humans.", said Aerith in pure amazement. „Well, not every wolf can do it. Me, my pack and some others are special. We can't just change into humans, we're also a lot taller, faster, stronger and more dangerous as normal wolves are. But as you see, we're not able to let our ears and tail disappear.", Cloud explained to her and crossed his arms over his chest, but immediately wondered why he told her this. It's actually a secret so that the humans aren't hunting them.

„Woooow~!", Aerith said and looked at him with glittery eyes, which let Clouds blush grow once again. „Can you show me your wolf shape?", asked Aerith, still in pure amazement. „Y-you want to see my wolf shape?", Cloud asked back in pure shock. He didn't really want to show her his wolf shape, because if he did she WILL run away from him, and perhaps alarm other humans...

But most of all...he didn't want her to be afraid of him...Because although she saw his wolf ears and tail and after he said what he is, she tolerated it. „No.", he replied, while Aeriths smile vanished instantly. „Why?"

„I don't want to scare you.", he said, while Aerith began to whine. „Come on! Please!", Aerith begged and looked at him with large, glittery puppy-dog-eyes, while Cloud backed away and looked away from her. If he kept looking into her eyes he'll probably agree.

Suddenly he felt something grasped on his tail and he quickly turned around. „Let go!", he yelled at Aerith and tried to free his tail from her grip, but she pulled on it. „Hey, stop pulling!"

„Come on, Cloud! PLEASE!", she tried again and looked up at him with her puppy-dog-eyes, still holding his tail with both hands tightly, while Cloud groaned in annoyance. „Okay...", he gave in and Aerith let him go and cheered. „Wait here." Cloud went away from her and hid behind a wall and began to undress himself, because he didn't want his clothes to be raped apart when he changed back.

Aerith waited patiently for him to come back and then a giant, gray wolf, with a few spikes on his head, came towards her. Aerith looked a bit in shock at how tall he is, he's, unlike normal wolves, taller than herself. He even had to bow his head to get at eye level with her. They stared at each others eyes and Aerith noticed his blue eyes were even brighter than before.

A moment later, Aerith reached up to touch his head and just as she felt his soft, plushy fur, she began to stroke him again. „Aaawww! Your fur's so soft!", she said happily as she excitedly stroke Clouds head, who closed his eyes in relaxation. Cloud himself began to blush instantly as he felt her soft touch on his head, but fortunately his fur covered it. Cloud opened his eyes as she began to move. Her hands glided down his neck to his shoulder.

Suddenly Clouds heart skipped a beat as she buried her face in his shoulder. _„Aerith, what are you doing?"_, Cloud wanted to say but he forgot something..._Oh that's right...wolves can't talk with humans, unless..._Cloud glanced to Aerith, who's still stroking him happily. _No...what a stupid thought. She never would...W-why do I even care? She's just a human._

_Aaww, his fur's so plushy, I don't want to let him go again._, she thought and began to giggle. Cloud turned his head to her, while she looked into his eyes and suddenly hugged his head and buried her face in his fur again. The wolf backed away a bit but Aerith held him tightly to her, so that his snout touched her bare neck, which let his blush grow even more.

It almost felt like she's a little child, who found a new toy and wanted to play with it so badly...But it felt kinda pleasant...Unconsciously the wolf came a bit closer to her and snuggled his snout deeper into her neck, smelling her heavenly, flowery scent. But then his eyes widened and he backed away from her, causing her to let go of him, before he disappeared behind the wall again.

A moment later Cloud came back in his human form, full dressed of course. „Why did you change?", Aerith whined, while Cloud began to sigh, and took deep breaths trying to control his fast heartbeat. „But...", Aerith added and examined Cloud, who froze and his blush got a deeper shade of red. „You have still these!", she said and began to stroke his ears again. „Aerith, stop...", he said and took her by her wrists.

„I don't understand you. I'm a monster, I could easily change back and...kill you and eh...eat you...and...mangle you..."

„But you didn't", she countered and smiled warmly up at him. „That's not the point.", he said and held his forehead. „If I was someone else you wouldn't stand here."

„But I do.", she said back, her smile widened and crossed her arms behind her back, innocently. „Do you even get your situation?"

„Hm-hmm.", she replied and nodded, her smile still on her face, while Cloud let his head hung in frustration, his ears and tail fell as well. „Aerith, you're really the craziest human I know.", he said and sighed loudly, while she began to giggle. „I'm not some dog you can pet, you know. I'm a predator! I eat humans like you for breakfast!"

„Oh, and why didn't you ate me?", she asked him, giggling and tilted her head a bit. _Why didn't I do it? Why? I normally would kill every human who dares to touch me. But why...did I allow her this?_ „Come on. You wanna eat me? Then do it.", she said, while Cloud looked at her in shock. „W-what?"

„Do it. But please kill me quickly okay?", she said and shut her eyes tightly, preparing to be attacked by him any moment, while Cloud still stared at her in shock, his eyes as wide as saucers and mouth open. _What an insane human!_ „Aerith open your eyes."

„No, I don't want to see you killing me.", she replied, while Cloud grasped her shoulders and squeezed it. „Open your eyes!", he ordered and Aerith opened them just to see that his face is so close to hers, which let her cheeks to get a shade of pink. „You're really insane, you know that?", he said, while she just nodded. „I know. You already told me that.", she replied and began to giggle.

„What's so funny about that? What if I really killed you?"

„You won't hurt me.", she replied knowingly and smiled up at him. „And how do you know that?"

„Well, you had many chances to kill me, but you didn't.", she stated, while he let go of her, turned away from her and held his forehead. _I hate her...! I hate her so much, but..._He glanced over his shoulder to see, she's still there, looking at him, her smile still on her face. _I can't help but feel kinda...attracted to her..._„Tch!" He turned to her again. „Okay, I won't hurt you. But tell me where I can go out of this weird town."

„You want go go already?", she asked him and her happy expression turned into a sad one. „Yeah. I just came here because some humans tracked me.", the blonde man explained and as he saw Aeriths sad expression his heart almost began to brake. „Oh...", she replied plainly. „Then I'll walk you to the gates." Cloud just nodded and turned away from her, not bearing to look into her sad eyes anymore. „Wait here.", he said to her and disappeared behind the wall again. He went up the destroyed stairs and on the beam just underneath the roof itself to grasp his cowl and then jumped down, to land softly on the ground in front of Aerith.

He got up and put his cowl on. „Let's go.", he said as he covered his wolf ears with the hood, his face still visible. Aerith just nodded sadly and went ahead, followed closely by Cloud.

* * *

><p>The two of them went through the streets of Midgar and with each step they took, Cloud regretted more and more that he told Aerith he's going to leave this town. Actually he didn't really wanted to go. He rather wanted to stay here...with her. To spent more time with her. To talk with her more. To get to know and to understand this weird, but extremely cute human.<p>

„Hey...", Cloud called her and she turned to him. „I think...I'll stay here for a while. I can return to my pack later..." As he said this he could see that Aerith eyes lit up and began to sparkle. „Really? You want to stay a bit longer? But...What if some humans seize you?", she asked him and began to giggle quietly. „As long as I wear this cowl everything's alright.", he replied and shrugged.

„But where will you stay?"

„Hm...", he tapped thoughtfully on his chin and thought for a while. „I could stay in the church..."

„Or you come with me and stay in my house.", Aerith said and smiled widely at him. „EH?" Cloud looked at her in shock and disbelieve, while she began to giggle. „Don't worry, we won't be alone, my mom lives there too.", she said, hoping this would calm Cloud a bit.

„Eh? Don't worry? I have to worry! What will she think if she'll see THIS!", he yelled suddenly and lifted his hood a bit to show her his wolf ear. „Don't worry. She won't say anyone this. You're save with me.", she said with a wink, which let Clouds blush appear again. He quickly looked away from her out of embarrassment. „But I won't guarantee you that you'll be save with ME.", he mumbled, but loud enough for her to her.

She blinked at first but then began to laugh. „Did you just crack a joke?", she asked him in amusement, while Cloud nodded slightly. „You make progress, Cloud. Keep it on and you probably will laugh about MY jokes too!", she said, still giggling and passed him. „We have to go this way.", she said and lead the way. Cloud stood there for a few seconds, he couldn't suppress a small smile, which appeared on his face. He's proud of himself that he told her to stay with her and the way she reacted, how happy she seemed to spent more time with him as well.

He turned around and followed her towards her house. „Are you sure your mom doesn't mind that I...live here? And about...?", he didn't said it out loud and just showed her once again his ears and tail, while Aerith just shrugged. „Of course not. She...um...keeps another secret too, you know.", she informed him and began to hum and to scamper next to him, out of happiness.

„What secret?", Cloud wanted to know, which Aerith responded with a:„When I'll tell you it wouldn't be a secret anymore, right?", and winked at him, while Cloud quickly looked away from her, his hood covered his face and also his growing blush.

**A.N.** Okay that was all^^ I hope you all liked it. The inspiration of this story, which I spent the whole week to imagine the whole plot, was Chibylove with her fanfic Red Riding Hood Cetra. Once I read this story I felt the urge to write a story with Cloud as a wolf^^ I hope I did good with it...So...please tell me what you think, okay?

Every review's welcome! ;3


	2. Wolf meets Human

**A.N.** Well now you can read what happens when a wolf, who lived his whole life in the woods, meets humans and how THEY live. Hope you like it!

Normal POV

„talking"

_Clouds/Aeriths thoughts_

„_Wolves talking to each other"_

**Beauty and the Beast**

Chapter 2: Wolf meets Human

„Are you sure, I..."

„Yes.", interrupted Aerith Cloud as he wanted to ask her again if she was really sure to let him, a wolf, sleep in her house. „I'm really, really, really, really, REALLY sure, okay?", she said and began to giggle. A few minutes later they arrived Aeriths house and Cloud stared in wonder. Unlike the rest of this gloomy town her house was bright with lots of colors.

In front of her house was a garden with many beautiful flowers in different colors and bright green grass. Aerith caught him staring and giggled. „Looks beautiful, hm?", she asked him, who was so much in wonderment, he couldn't even talk and just nodded. „I did it all by myself.", she said proudly, while Cloud stared at her now.

„You? Wow...! Not even my home looks as beautiful as yours.", he complimented and sniffed the air. A sweet scent, mixed of all flowers, filled his senses and he noticed it's the same scent Aerith has._ That's why she smells like flowers._ „Smells good too, hm?", she asked him and smiled warmly at him. „Yeah...", he replied and began to blush a bit. „Let's go inside.", Aerith suggested, while Cloud just nodded in agreement.

Aerith entered her house first. „Mooom, I'm home!", the green eyed girl called and then a woman came upstairs and smiled warmly at Aerith. „You're really early today.", Elmyra noticed. Normally Aerith stays in the church til nightfall, which makes her mother more worried then she already is. „Well, it's because we have a guest.", she said and turned around to see that Cloud's still on the spot she left him.

She motioned him to come inside and Cloud came, a bit hesitantly, inside. „And who are you?", asked Elmyra the mysterious man, who's face is half cloaked by the hood. „...Cloud.", he replied awkwardly, while Aerith closed the door behind him and told her mother how they met, though she didn't told her anything about the Cloud's being wolf part.

„And he's...a bit different from other guys.", Aerith added, while Elmyra examined him a bit. „And what's so different about him?", Elmyra asked. „Cloud, take off your cowl." Cloud did as he was told and took off his cowl. „He looks like a normal boy, Aerith.", her mother said a bit confused, as she examined him, while Aerith looked at Cloud in surprise. His ears are gone.

Aerith looked at him suspiciously, while he just looked away from her and then she saw something gray. _He tries to hide them..._, she thought amused. _But there's something he can't hide._ The flower girl smiled wickedly at Cloud, who glanced to her and raised an eyebrow and then suddenly Aerith clutched his tail tightly and his wolf ears leaped up. „Owowow!", the blonde man whined and freed his tail from her grip.

„Stop pulling on it!", he hissed in annoyance and glared at the flower girl, while Elmyra looked at Cloud in shock. „Aerith! Do you even know what he is?", she asked her daughter in shock. „Japp, he's a wolf.", she replied and smiled at Elmyra. „And you bring a dangerous animal along in our house?", she asked her disbelievingly. „Finally!", Cloud exclaimed, making Elmyra jump a bit. „See? You should be more like your mother! She knows that I'm dangerous!", he said to Aerith, who began to giggle.

_Well, I AM like my mother, actually._, she thought. „Maybe so, but I know you won't hurt any of us.", she said, which made Clouds ears and tail fall again. „You're really sure, Aerith?", asked Elmyra Aerith, who nodded. „Then I'll believe you."

„How long do you want to stay, Cloud?", asked Aerith, while Cloud thought for a while. „I don't know...a few days.", he replied. „Mom, can he stay here?", asked Aerith her mother with large puppy-dog-eyes. „Don't worry, he's not as dangerous as you think.", she whispered to her, but thanks to Cloud wolf ears he heard every word and his ears fell even more and he glared at her.

„Alright then.", her mother agreed, she knew that Aerith can sense what's dangerous and what not and she always was right, so she always believed in Aerith.

„So, do you want to eat something, Aerith", Elmyra asked, as she went into the kitchen. „Of course! I'm starving! What about you, Cloud?", asked Aerith the wolf as they also went into the kitchen. „Um, sure, but you can't hunt in this area...", he said, while Aerith began to laugh, which caused Cloud to raise an eyebrow. „What's so funny?", he asked her a bit annoyed at her behavior.

„We won't hunt, Cloud.", she said between her giggles. „You won't? And how do you want to get something to eat?"

„We already have everything. We bought it.", she explained, while Cloud looked at her in confusion. „Bought? What's that?"

„Well, there are people who has groceries. They sell it to the townspeople, means us. And we buy it. We get the food, they get money.", she explained and had to suppress another laugh attack. „And what's money?", he asked her, still confused. „I'll tell you later, hihi."

„What do you want, you two?", asked Elmyra Cloud and Aerith. „I don't know. I look what's left.", Aerith replied and went to the refrigerator, Cloud following her with each step. Aerith opened it and looked inside, while Cloud put his gloved hands on her shoulder and leaned forward to look inside too. Just as he felt cool air, he suddenly jumped and backed away a bit. „W-why's that thing so cold inside?", Cloud asked Aerith startled.

„So that the groceries won't decay.", she replied and had, once again, to suppress a giggle. „It's called a refrigerator."

„A refi...refri...refigro...refogri...refri-thing." Cloud tried to repeat this word but it didn't really worked. „Right, Cloud, a refri-thing", she agreed and couldn't suppress her laughter anymore. „What's so funny?", Cloud asked her and began to pout a bit. „You!", she said between her giggles and Cloud could hear Elmyra giggled too, quietly though. „You're mean, I lived my whole life in the woods, I don't know how you humans live at all!", he stated his small pout still on his face.

„What do you wanna eat, Cloud?", asked Aerith to change the subject. „Um...do you have some meat in that refrigratoriter...thing?", he asked, still stumbling over this word. „Of course.", she replied, took everything they need out of the refrigerator and passed Cloud, once she closed it again.

Cloud raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. „You didn't thought, I let you eat raw meat, did you?", she asked him in amusement. „How else?", he asked back curious, while Aerith just smiled at him. „Just wait a few minutes", she replied, turned away from him and made dinner with her mother, while Cloud watched them in silence.

* * *

><p>After a few minutes they sat all on the kitchen table and ate, while Cloud looked suspiciously at his meal. „What did you do with it?", he asked Aerith curious. „I fried it.", she replied and took another bite of her food. „Fried...?", he repeated and sniffed the fried meat. „It smells...good."<p>

„Try it.", Aerith said and Cloud was about to take it but backed away instantly. „Ow! That's hot!", he yelled startled and liked his burned fingers. „Of course it's hot.", said Aerith and giggled quietly.

„And you're telling me this NOW?", he asked and glared at her, while she stood up and went to his side. „You have to use this.", she said and pointed to the cutlery, while Cloud examined it. „Uh...how do I use this...?", he asked her curious, while Aerith giggled a bit and took his hands in hers and explained him how to use this and then sat back down. Cloud blushed instantly as he felt her small hands holding his ungloved big ones. He examined this piece of meat, which still stuck on his fork. „Be careful, it's still hot.", Aerith warned and smiled amused at Cloud. „Thank you for warning me...", he just replied and put this piece of meat into his mouth and chewed it. Suddenly his eyes widened and he quickly swallowed it. „WOW!", he exclaimed and and cut another, bigger, piece of meat and put it quickly in his moth. „That tastes great!", he said and continued to chew the meat. Elmyra and Aerith watched Cloud in amusement as he excitedly ate the meat.

Once they finished dinner Cloud sighed. „That was good! Never ate something so delicious before.", he said, while Aerith smiled warmly at him. „I'm glad you enjoyed it, Cloud.", said Elmyra as she cleaned the kitchen. „Did you ate something else than meat at your home?", asked him Aerith interested, while Cloud thought for a while. „Hm...I ate some berries once in a while...why?"

„I'm just curious. Hey, did you ever ate strawberries?", she asked him, while Cloud tilted his head. „No, never heard anything about this. What's that?" Aerith stood up and overtook a bowl with strawberries in it and put them on the table in front of Cloud. „These are strawberries. Try some.", she said and Cloud took one of them and examined it. „Hm..." He sniffed on it and put it into his mouth.

He chewed it a bit and then his eyes began to glow. „Wow, that's delicious!", he exclaimed suddenly and took a handful strawberries and ate them, while Aerith began to giggle. „Never expected you humans to have such a good sense of taste!", the wolf said and ate almost the whole bowl empty.

„Hey, hey, stop, you can eat the rest tomorrow.", giggled Aerith and saved the strawberries from that hungry wolf. „Oh...sorry...", he apologized, while Aerith put the strawberries in the refrigerator. „I have something more delicious for you.", she said, while Clouds ears pricked up as she said this. „More delicious than strawberries? What is it?", he asked her excitedly, his tail swinging back and forth hastily. „This.", she gave him another bowl with tiny red fruits in it. „What is that?"

„Cherries."

„Cherries...?" Cloud took one and put it into his mouth and as he chewed on it he felt something hard inside. „OW! What the—?" He quickly spit it out. „Oh sorry, I didn't mentioned it has a pit in it.", Aerith said and giggled nervously. „Yeah...thanks for warning me...", he said sarcastically and glared a bit at Aerith. „But it really tastes better than strawberries!", he said and ate a few more cherries, this time a bit more carefully, so that he didn't bite on the pits again.

Aerith and Cloud continued to eat the cherries till Elmyra came to them „Don't eat so much now.", she said, while they both began to whine. „Just one more...", Aerith said and they both wanted to take one more cherry but just one's left and they hands touched. Cloud quickly backed away and to his dismay began to blush again. „It's yours.", he mumbled, while Aerith just thanked him and ate the last cherry.

Then Cloud and Aerith went into the living room and Cloud looked around, examining the room and spotted something weird. „What's that?", he asked Aerith and Elmyra and pointed to that thing. „It's a television.", Aerith replied, while Cloud knelled in front of it and examined it more. He tilted his head in wonderment as he examined it. „What is this thing for?", he asked and suddenly light came from it and little humans showed up, while he quickly backed away, landing on his back.

„Wh-what the hell? How come humans are in this thing? How is that possible?", he asked the two females startled, while they began to giggle.

„They're not really in it, Cloud.", Aerith said and explained why the humans are "in there". „Oh...", he said, but didn't really get it. And then something interesting caught everyone's attention. „Today came a wild wolf in this town.", the newsreader said and they could see a giant gray wolf's running through the gates into the town, snarling and ready to kill everyone who comes in his way and people screaming for their lives.

„It was rumored to be a wolf who can change into a human. He's extremely dangerous, so if anyone sees a mysterious figure, regardless of animal or human, in this town, call the Shin-Ra company, so that they send the Turks to examine these situations and catch that animal as fast as possible." The three of them fell silent and Cloud regret to burst into this town like that and his ears and tail fell, while Aerith and Elmyra stared at the television in shock. „Cloud, was that you...?", Aerith asked him, even though she already knew the answer, while Cloud just nod a bit.

Cloud glanced to them but they're expressions are anything but scared, just a bit shocked, of course, but now that they know him better he just rushed in like this to just scare everyone. Cloud stared at them for a few more minutes before he decided to explain everything. „It's just a method to defend myself.", he said to them. „An when the humans run away from me, I don't have to kill anyone."

„Can you tell us how you came here?", asked Aerith, while Cloud just nodded. „I live in the woods in Gongaga.", he began, but Aerith cut in. „Gongaga? But it's really far away from Midgar!"

„I know...Well to make it short, I made the dumbest mistake ever...I went away from my pack. As I left the woods some humans saw me. They recognized me as a wolf, well you can't overlook these..." He pointed to his ears and went on.

„They said a wolfs fur is really precious, especially ours, the ones who can change into humans. Well instead of running back to my pack I ran in the other direction, after I changed. They tracked me day and night and called their friends to help them, but they didn't get me. Then some day I arrived this town...eh..."

„Midgar.", Elmyra said. „Yeah, Midgar. As you saw in that...magic box.", he said and forgot the right word, while Elmyra and Aerith had to fight a giggle. „Well, my clothes were raped apart as I changed and...I hide in a dark alley and changed into a human.", he said, while Aerith blushed as she imagined everything he said, but hide it with her bangs.

„I waited there and then I mugged the first human I saw. And he really had great clothes as you can see. Then I thought they're still after me and jumped on some roofs, till I noticed nobody's tracking me anymore and stopped. Well and then I fell into that church.", he finished, while Aerith looked at him really serious. „Cloud, why didn't you run to your pack? Why did you even left your home?"

„I don't know either...I just...wanted to see something else. I wanted to see the world. I didn't wanted to stuck in these woods my whole live. And as these humans tracked me, I just panicked and ran in the other direction...", he said awkwardly and scratched the back of his head.

„Well, let's figure out tomorrow what to do, huh?", Aerith said and smiled at Cloud. „Oh! We didn't had any dessert, right?", she said and stood up, but Elmyra held her back. „Aerith, don't eat so much in this late hour, or else you'll get stomachache.", she said, but then Aerith looked at her with bright, large puppy-dog-eyes. „Please...Just a tiny bit...", she begged, while Elmyra sighed in defeat. „Just a bit.", she said and Aerith hugged her mother tightly before she took out a bar of chocolate out of a cupboard. „Ta-da!", she said and held it to Cloud. „What's that?", he asked her interested, while Aerith sat on the ground in front of him. „It's chocolate.", she said and broke a bit from the bar and gave it to him.

Cloud examined it for a while before he took it in his hand. „That looks weird...", he said and sniffed on it. „Try it. It's really good.", she said and ate a piece of chocolate herself. He then put the chocolate in his mouth, his tail swinging hastily as he tasted the sweet treat. „That's good!", he said, while Aerith smiled at him and gave him another piece. „I told you so.", she said and took one more piece herself. As Cloud took the last piece into his mouth he licked his fingers clean, because they're full of melted chocolate and then he noticed Aeriths fingers are also covered in chocolate.

As Aerith also wanted to lick her fingers Cloud suddenly held her wrist and pulled her hand towards him and began to lick her fingers clean. Aerith blushed fiercely as she felt his wet, warm tongue licking her fingertips, while Elmyra watched them from the couch in amusement.

As Aerith thought she got a bit used to it, he suddenly put the last finger in his mouth, sucking on it lightly, while Aeriths blush grew even more. _What am I doing here...?_, Cloud asked himself as he sucked and licked her finger with closed eyes and a bright blush on his face. _Well, whatever...I never expected her skin to taste sweeter than chocolate itself..._, he thought and continued licking the finger, even though the chocolate's already gone.

„C...Cloud...?" Aerith said his name nervously, then Cloud snapped out of his daze, let go of her and turned away from her, blushing fiercely. „S-sorry...", he apologized quickly, while Aerith giggled nervously, also blushing. „It's okay. Seems like you already love chocolate.", she stated, while Cloud sighed unnoticeable in relieve that she didn't noticed the real reason why he licked her fingertips longer than he actually should.

„Well, let's go to bed now.", said Aerith and stood up. „Night, mom." Cloud also stood up and followed Aerith. „Um...night...", he said to Elmyra. „Night.", she replied and they went up the stairs. „Wait here, I'll be right back.", said Aerith and disappeared into a room. Aerith quickly prepared the guest room and luckily found some clothes, which should fit Cloud and went out to see Cloud still standing on the spot she left him.

„Follow me.", she said and entered the bathroom, Cloud followed her instantly. In there Aerith taught him how to brush his teeth (they had a third toothbrush, just in case) and then Aerith literally kicked Cloud out of the bathroom so that she can change her clothes. As she came out again, she handed Cloud the clothes she found. „Here. I hope they fit you. And you can cut a hole in it, if you want."

„Eh? But..."

„It's yours.", she said and pushed Cloud into the bathroom so that he can change his clothes too. Cloud came out with a gray T-shirt and black shorts with a hole in it, for his tail. He looked around, Aerith is not in sight. „Aerith?", he called her and heard a muffled „Here!", in the room she once disappeared and entered it. „I made your bed.", she said and went to him. „Um...Thank you...", he replied and scratched the back of his head.

„Well, good night. My room is next door, if you need something." Aerith waved at him and left the room, closing the door as she did so. „Good night...", he said back and she closed the door. And just as she left Cloud felt odd...Suddenly the room felt so cold and empty. He shook his head and tried to ignore this weird feeling and lied down in his bed.

_Wow...it's really different from sleeping on the ground..._, he thought and closed his eyes, but he couldn't sleep. All he thought about was Aerith and the fact that he felt so empty the moment she left. And he thought about if he should go to her room..._Tch...what am I thinking? You're a grown up wolf, damn it!_, he thought and forced himself to sleep, but he still couldn't.

Then his body moved from autopilot, he stood up, left his room and before he realized what he was doing he stood in front of Aeriths room. _Shall I go in...? I wonder what she'll think of me then...Well, I guess there's so turning back now..._Cloud gulped and knocked at the door, his heartbeat quickened its pace and Aerith opened the door moments later and looked at him sleepily, it seemed she fell asleep, and Cloud felt guilty for waking her up...„Cloud? Is something wrong?", she asked him worried, while he looked to the ground, embarrassed.

„Well...I can't sleep...so...I wondered if I...you know...could sleep...here...?", he stuttered and glanced at her, to see her reaction, while she smiled at him. „Okay.", she said and stepped aside so that Cloud could enter her room and suddenly this cold and empty feeling was replaced by a wonderful warm one.

It's because of her presence, Cloud realized, which made him feel this way. She's so kind, so loving, it warmed his cold and lonely heart and also broke all his barriers he built to keep a distance between himself and everyone else. But just as they met, he suddenly felt the urge to stay by her side, to protect her...

Aerith laid down in her bed and covered herself with the blanket. „Come on.", she said and giggled, as he suddenly looked at her in shock. „What? I-I can sleep on the ground...", he said, but Aerith insisted that Cloud slept next to her. Cloud knew she won't take a "no" for an answer and just did what he was told and laid down next to her on her bed.

„Good night, Cloud."

„G-good night...Aerith...", he replied and closed his eyes. He breathed in her flowery scent and he instantly felt at ease. His fast heartbeat calmed down and he sighed in relaxation, as he slowly drifted into sleep...

* * *

><p><em>A giant, pure white, female wolf ran through the woods of Gongaga, she carried her son in her mouth and abscond from a crowd of humans, who haunted her. She hide behind a bush and seat her son on the ground between the twigs of this bush. „Stay here.", the female wolf said to her little son. „And don't come out before I allow you.", she said and licked his sons face. „M-mom, what do these weird thing want from us?", the little wolf asked his mother confused, while his mother tried to smile.<em>

„_Don't worry, I'll take care of them.", she said, while the little wolf began to cry. „No, don't leave me!", he whined, while his mother snuggled her snout on his face. „I won't leave you. Never. Now stay here and keep quiet. I'll come back when it's all over.", she said and jumped over the bush to attack the humans._

_They got in a horrible fight and the wolf killed one human after another, but then a human shot her, hitting her on her shoulder. He shot a few more times, the wolf fell on the ground and saw the humans surrounded her. _Cloud...I'm sorry I can't protect you anymore..._, was the wolfs last thoughts before the human shot one last time and killed her._

_Unfortunately the little wolf saw everything and began to cry. „Mom...!", he whined, but then he remembered what his mother said: „Keep quiet." and he immediately kept quiet. He saw the humans taking her lifeless body with them, they didn't seemed to notice that she had a little wolf in her mouth and went away._

_As they went out of his sight he began to cry. „You said, you won't leave me!", he whined and cried till he fell asleep._

* * *

><p>Aerith awoke as the sun shined through her window straight to her face. As she regained her senses she noticed that someone's holding her. She saw to her left and indeed, Cloud had wrapped his arms around her waist protectively and his forehead rested against her shoulder.<p>

„No...", he mumbled and held her tighter than before. „No...! Don't go...!"

Aerith looked at him curious. „Cloud?"

„Mom...don't go...don't leave me...!", he mumbled and held Aerith even tighter. „Cloud?" Aerith shook Cloud lightly and he suddenly awoke with a start, pulling Aerith with her. Aerith let out a yelp of surprise and looked at Cloud worried, who looked around frantically and then sighed in relieve as he realized that it was just a dream.

Then he looked to Aerith, who's still in his arms and quickly let go and backed away from her. „I-I'm sorry!", he apologized and suddenly fell from her bed with a loud thump, while Aerith looked down at him. „Are you okay?", she asked Cloud, who rubbed the back of his head. „Yeah...", he replied and stood up.

„Did you had a nightmare?", Aerith asked him worried, while Cloud looked at her a bit startled. „How...?"

„You called your mom. You always said "Don't leave me." Did something happened to your mother?", she asked, while he sat down on her bedside and looked to the ground. „She...she was...slayed.", he said, while Aerith gasped quietly. „I'm sorry..."

„It's okay..."

„Do you...wanna talk about it?" Cloud remained silent for a while before he told Aerith what happened as he was a kid, that his mother was killed by humans. „I couldn't do anything to protect her...She even said she won't leave me, but..."

„Cloud." Aerith interrupted him and Cloud looked at her. „Of course you couldn't do anything. You were just a kid. She wanted you to stay alive. And I'm sure your mother didn't left. She's always with you. Here.", she said and put a hand on his chest, where his heart is. As she touched his chest his heartbeat suddenly quickened it's pace.

Cloud looked at her hand for a while before he put his hand over hers, squeezing it lightly. „I guess you're right...", he said, while Aerith smiled warmly at him. „Of course I'm right!"

„But now...I'm all alone...", Cloud said and looked to the ground sadly, while Aerith frowned. „What do you mean?", she asked him and Cloud just sighed. „I have no family."

„W-what about your father? Or siblings?"

„I never met him. And I don't have any siblings.", Cloud replied. „Mom said he died before I was born...She never really talked about him and as I asked her something about him she looked so sad, even though she wanted to hide it. That's why I didn't mentioned him ever again. I mean, my pack adopted me after my mom died, they're all treating me like I was born in this pack, but..."

„They don't feel like real family to you?", Aerith guessed, while Cloud just nod. That was such a tragic and sad story that Aerith almost wanted to cry, but she pulled herself together and hugged Cloud instead. Clouds body grew stiff at the sudden contact, which didn't remained unnoticed by Aerith.

„You're not alone. I'm here for you, okay?", she said in a soft comforting voice, which let Clouds heart melt. He longed for so long to hear this from anyone, but he didn't expect to hear it from a human. _How can she say something like this? We met each other yesterday for the first time, how can she say this to a stranger? To a wolf?_, Cloud wondered, but he never felt so good in his live before and just enjoyed the moment as long as he could and wrapped his arms around her waist and leaned his head on her shoulder. „Thank you...", he said, though it's a bit muffled as he said this against her shoulder. „You're welcome.", the green eyed girl replied and hugged him a bit tighter to comfort him more.

**A.N.** Sooo that was all! (for now) I hope you all liked this chappy and I also hope it's as funny as I wanted it to be^^ This chappy was supposed to be longer, but I think it's already long enough.

PLEASE REVIEW! ;3


	3. Back to Gongaga

**A.N.** Here's the long-desired chappy 3^^ I wanted to tell you Clouds childhood here, but there's no room anymore, please forgive me v.v But then again, you have a reason to look forward to the next chappy^^

Normal POV

„talking"

_Clouds/Aeriths thoughts_

„_Wolves talking to each other"_

_**voices of the lifestream**_

**Beauty and the Beast**

Chapter 3: Back to Gongaga

Cloud and Aerith went for a walk in the Wall Market. Cloud wore his black cowl again to hide his wolf ears and tail, while Aerith wore her pink dress and red jacket. „And? How do you like Midgar?", asked Aerith, while Cloud looked around. „Hmm...Not that bad. I mean it's better than in the woods, of course. You can see more here."

„Of course.", she agreed and then she spotted something. „Hey, Cloud! Let's eat ice cream!", she suggested, took his hand and dragged him with her. „What's ice cream?", he asked her curious. „It's...uh...like ice, you know, just creamy with several flavors. It's really yummy, you'll love it!", she explained as they arrived the ice cream parlor. Aerith bought herself strawberry and vanilla ice cream, while Cloud got chocolate and nougat. They continued walking through the Wall Market and slowly headed back to Aeriths. „Try it.", said Aerith and began to giggle as Cloud just examined his ice cream. Cloud began to lick his ice cream hesitantly. „Cold...", he murmured, while Aerith had to bite back a giggle. „But delicious."

„You wanna try mine too?", asked Aerith and held her ice cream to Cloud, who licked hers. „Yours good too.", he said and licked his lips, while Aerith began to giggle. „Told you so."

As Cloud and Aerith finished their ice cream Cloud noticed that Aerith still had some ice cream on the corner of her lips. „You have some ice cream on you face.", he told her, while she looked at him. „Where?", she asked back and looked surprised at Cloud, who leaned in to her. „There.", he mumbled and licked the ice cream off her face. They both instantly began to blush fiercely, as Aerith felt Clouds tongue licking the corner of her lips, and as Cloud tasted her sweet skin all over again. Cloud almost didn't want to stop and just wanted to continue licking her face, but he forced himself to stop, or else it would be more awkward than it already is...He licked one last time, to make sure there's no ice cream anymore, and to taste her a bit longer, and leaned back again. He looked to the ground, the hood covered his face a bit more, not wanting to see her expression after he did this.

„Sorry...but...all wolves are doing this...It's...a habit, you know.", he said, but actually he never really did this before. „Oh, okay.", she replied, obviously buying what he said. They went back to Sector 5 in silence. „Hey, Cloud, let's go to the church!", suggested Aerith, as she saw the church, while Cloud nodded and they head to the church.

They entered the church and Aerith immediately ran to the flowers to tend them, while Cloud slowly walked towards her and knelled down next to her, once he doffed his cowl. He watched her in silence as she tended her precious flowers. It seemed like she caressed every flower and cast a spell on them to look more beautiful than they already are and he couldn't help but wish that she would caress him, too, like the day before.

„What are you thinking?" Cloud suddenly heard Aeriths voice so close to his ear, that he jumped, which caused Aerith to giggle. „I...", he began and looked away from her to hide his blush. He didn't really knew what to answer, because he didn't heard what she asked him, he was too focused on his own fantasizes of Aerith caressing him and whatnot.

„W-what did you say?" Aerith continued to giggle, which let Cloud get even more embarrassed than he already is, his heart pounded fiercely in his chest and he always wondered what this feeling was. He never felt like this before, so...why now? Then he remembered what his mother once told him...She told him something, which called itself...love. She said he will meet someone who he wants to be with forever, that he'll put the live of this person in front of his own...

But there was something else..._What was that again...?_, he wondered and tried to remember. _Oh, right..._She told him that he'll know when it happens. His heartbeat gets faster, he'll always blush, he'll get a warm feeling whenever he'll see his special someone or whenever he's thinking of her and he'll get a feeling of emptiness, when she's gone and so much more and as he glanced at her, he clearly could feel all this, but..._It feels wrong. I'm a wolf, she's a human. It would never work out...No...forget these feelings!_, he forced himself, but he couldn't.

He couldn't forget these feelings. He couldn't forget her..._I guess mom told me this too..._These feelings just felt too good to just forget. „I said, what are you thinking?", she asked again, while Cloud snapped out of his daze once again. „Um...nothing.", he replied, but Aerith wasn't convinced by his answer. „Right. And why are you spacing out so much?" Cloud looked away from her, to quickly think of what to answer. „I just thought...", he began, but stopped as he felt Aeriths small hands on his ear, caressing him lightly. He froze immediately and thought his heart stopped for a moment. „Don't mind me. Your fur's just so fluffy, I can't help but want to touch it.", she said and continued to caress him. „Go on."

But Clouds mind was totally blank. Just as he felt her touch, all he could think of was how he loved her touch and he wanted her to never stop this. But it still felt wrong to him. _Wolves and humans can't be together! That's absolutely impossible!_, he persuaded himself into it ever and every again, but there was a small part in him, which just didn't want to believe it. „I...I...I...", was all he managed to say, while Aerith began to giggle at his lake of words. „You're so cute, you know that?", asked Aerith him amused, while Clouds heart pounded fiercely in his chest, which felt like it would burst out of his chest any moment.

„I'm...cute...?", he asked her nervously, still looking away from her to hide his flushed face. „Yeah you are!", she replied happily and continued to caress him and played a bit with his ear. „Clooouuudd?", she called him, stretching his name and Cloud knew immediately she wants something from him. „Hm?"

„Can you change into a wolf? I wanna touch your fur more!", she asked him with such a sweet voice, which let Cloud almost agree, but stopped himself. „W-why?", he just asked her, not daring to look into her eyes, because he knew she looked at him with her puppy-dog-eyes and he also knew he couldn't say no once he saw them. Aerith pouted at him as he said this. „I told you already!" As Cloud heard her voice changed, he knew she's now pouting, which looked just as cute as her puppy-dog-look.

„Come ooonn! Pleeeaaasseee!", she begged and held him tightly on his shoulder, shaking him lightly. Cloud remained silent, while Aerith pouted again. She knew he won't give in as long as he can't see her look, so she crawled on his other side to look into his eyes, but he quickly looked to the other side again. Aeriths pout grew and then crawled on his lap and leaned to the side so that Cloud had no other choice but to look at her.

Now that Cloud looked at her she used her puppy-dog-look once again and Cloud tried to ignore it, which is really difficult when her face is so close to his own..._Stay strong, Strife, stay strong...!_, he told himself ever and ever again, but the more he looked into her sparkling green eyes, the weaker he felt and forced himself more not to say yes, but...„Okay. Just don't look at me like that!", he agreed, while Aerith squealed in excitement and hugged the wolf tightly, which caused Cloud to blush even more and his heart to stop once again. As Aerith let go of him he went behind a wall again, undressed himself and changed into a wolf. Cloud plods back to her and stopped in front of her.

Aerith immediately stood up and hugged Clouds giant head. Cloud blushed immediately under his fur, but luckily she can't see it, besides she's way too busy to touch his fur. _She still didn't noticed that I'm not a gray wolf...guess it's because of the light here..._, Cloud thought as he watched her caressing him happily. He knew that Aerith won't be satisfied in the next few minutes and lied down. Aerith sat down on his side and leaned on his shoulder, still caressing him. Cloud curled up in a ball, his tail covered her legs and his snout touched her shoulder lightly.

Aerith caressed his snout, cheek, head and behind his ears (his weak spot) lightly, while Cloud closed his eyes in relaxation, but quickly opened his them again as she stopped. She fell asleep on him and snuggled deep into his fur. He watched her for a few more minutes, before he licked her face lightly, so that he won't wake her up again. Then he lied his head on his arms and closed his eyes, drifting into sleep too.

Suddenly, a few hours later, Cloud ears pricked up, he heard something, or rather someone walking towards the church. He quickly looked to the door to convince himself and indeed a few humans went to the church. He prods Aerith lightly with his snout to wake her up. „Hm...", she groaned quietly as she opened her eyes. „Cloud...? What is it...?" Cloud looked to the door, to tell her someone's coming and Aerith followed his gaze. „What? Is someone's coming?", she asked him and he nodded, stood up and quickly disappeared behind the wall, where still his clothes lied. He changed back to human and put all his clothes on.

Meanwhile Aerith stood up too and stared at the doors, which opened and three people, dressed in black suits entered the church, two guys and a woman. The woman had short, blonde hair and brown eyes, while one guy had spiky red hair with goggles on his head and blue eyes and the other guy, who was the biggest one, had a baldness and black sunglasses. „What are you doing here?", asked Aerith them nervously, while the three went towards her. „We should ask you the same.", said the blonde woman. „Someone told us a suspicious person went in here moments ago."

„A suspicious person? Me?", Aerith asked them and pointed to herself, while the red headed guy shook his head. „Not you. Someone told us a guy in a black cowl entered the church with you. Who is it?" Aerith jumped unnoticeable, as she heard they're searching for Cloud and quickly thought what to answer. „Oh! He...he's my cousin. He has a black cowl because...his face...he has a wound on his face and doesn't want everyone to see it.", she said, hoping they would buy it. „And where is your cousin?", asked the taller one, while Aerith looked around. „Um...he..."

„I'm here.", said Cloud and went to Aerith, his face is hidden by the hood of his cowl.

„So, you're the one everyone told us about. Can we take a look...?", asked Reno and went closer to Cloud, but he backed away from him and held the hood a bit more to his face. „No. My cousin told you already that I don't want you guys, or anyone else, to see my wound.", Cloud replied, while the red headed one sighed in defeat. „Okay, then, we tell them false alarm. Man I get sick of this back and forth.", he said and went out of the church, the other two following him.

„Ouf, that was close.", said Aerith as they left the church. „Yeah.", Cloud agreed and revealed his face again. „And, cousin, what do we do now?", he asked her teasingly, while she grinned at him. „Well, if it wasn't for these guys I would still sleeping on you and could touch your fur more."

„I won't change back again. What if these guys come back and see me in my wolf shape?" Aerith began to pout as he said this. „Noooo! Change back!", she whined, while Cloud just shook his head, this time stronger to say no to her. „You're such a meanie!"

„Hey, I'm a wolf, remember? We're always mean.", he lied, what she didn't knew is that Wolves are actually incredibly kind. „I think, I don't like you wolves anymore.", she said, her pout still on her face and turned away from him, crossing her arms over her chest. Suddenly Clouds heart dropped. He didn't want her to hate him, or his kind. He wanted the complete opposite, even though it still felt wrong to him.

„Hey...I lied, okay. We're always kind. I mean, when no human tries to kill us...", he said, while Aerith didn't budged. „You just say it, but is it even true?"

„Of course. Hey, if I would be really mean, I killed you as I saw you. Or I killed the humans as I ran into this town.", the wolf said, while Aerith looked over her shoulder to him. „True enough.", she said and smiled at him, and Cloud felt relieved that she didn't hate him. „But I still want you to change back.", she insisted and pouted at him. „No."

„You're really a meanie!", she yelled, but Cloud could hear clearly the teasing tone in her voice and smirked slightly. „I know." But then realization hit him. His pack's probably really worried about him. He didn't want to, but he had to go back to Gongaga. „Aerith?" Aerith clearly heard his sad tone and looked worried at him. „Hm?"

„I...have to go back to Gongaga." Aeriths eyes widened as he said this. „What? Why? I thought you like Midgar?"

„I do. I really like Midgar and I also like you and your mother, but I can't stay here. These guys are searching for me and my pack is probably very worried about me." Aerith looked to the ground with a sad expression, which let Clouds heart sting painfully. „Oh...you're right."

„Hey...I don't have to go now. I...can wait till tomorrow.", he said to cheer her up a bit, but it didn't really worked, she just nodded. „Hey, do you mind if we stay here a bit longer?", asked Aerith him to lighten the mood a bit, and to be with him alone a bit longer. „Sure." Aerith knelled in front of her flowers again and folded her hands in a praying manner, while Cloud knelled next to her and watched her silently. _Please protect Cloud during his journey back to Gongaga..._, she prayed.

_**You can go with him.**_ Aerith suddenly heard a soft feminine voice talking to her, which she knew all too well. _Mom?_ Aerith gasped softly, and quickly opened her eyes. „Is something wrong?", asked Cloud worried, while she just shook her head and went back int her previous position.

_**Go with him, dear. The planet brought you two together.**_

_But why?_

_**To understand each other more. And to end the war.**_

_War? What war?_ But her mother remained silent, it seemed like she couldn't keep in contact with her anymore. „Hm..." Aerith thought for a while and decided to go with him, like her mother advised her to do. „Well, let's go home, huh? Eh...to my house, I mean.", Aerith said and lead the way, while Cloud looked at her with a sad expression and followed her.

As they arrived Aerith house Elmyra immediately knew that somethings wrong. „What's wrong with you two?" Aerith turned quickly to Cloud. „Cloud can you...go upstairs and, you know, change your clothes and..."

„I get it. I shall leave you two alone for a while.", interrupted Cloud, smiled a bit to Aerith and went upstairs. „What's wrong, Aerith?", asked Elmyra as they heard Cloud had entered his room. „Cloud wants to go back to Gongaga. And...I want to accompany him." Elmyra looked at her daughter in shock. „Really? Are you sure?"

Aerith nodded confidently at her. „Yes. Back at the church, I heard my mother talking to me. She said it's the best when I go with him."

„You're mother...? Well, when she says it's the best, I go along with it.", said Elmyra to her daughter, who just tackled her in a tight hug. „Thank you. And don't worry. Cloud's with he and protects me."

„Always when you say "don't worry", I'm worrying even more.", replied Elmyra, as she hugged her back.

Meanwhile...

Cloud entered his room and began to change his clothes. He knew he easily could hear what they say, but he decided to let them some privacy. Once he changed he opened the window and leaned on the windowsill. He looked around, to Aeriths garden, to the town, and up to the plate. _What a weird town...Why build humans a town with a plate above? I'm sure these guys up there have a nice live, while the townspeople down here suffer...Why are human like this? Why do they torture their own kind? Why do they kill each other? I mean, okay, even my kind has some differences, we get in a fight because of our territory, but..._

As Cloud thought about it, he heard a muffled voice calling his name and his ears pricked up immediately. _She's calling me._ Cloud immediately left his room and went downstairs, where Aerith and Elmyra waited for him. „Yes?"

„Let's enjoy the rest of the day together.", said Aerith and held a hand to him, which he gladly took. „Sure." They sat on the couch in the living room and watched some TV, which Cloud still didn't got the point of. As Aerith zapped through the channels they saw a documentation about wolves, his kind!

He suddenly leaned forward and Aerith knew he wanted to watch it and lied the remote on her lap. The reporter said that wolves, especially his kind, are extremely dangerous and bloodthirsty. In this documentation, they could see a pack of silver wolves. „Yeah, of course...These guys are bloodthirsty, but not every wolf is like them...", mumbled Cloud, which gained Aeriths and Elmyras attention. „You know them?"

„Yeah. They're our "neighbors", we always get in a fight with them, or rather they always pick a fight with us. I heard that silver wolves have special powers. They can use magic and whatnot. There are only three other silver wolves I know. Two of them are in my pack and the other has his own one."

„Oh, that means silver wolves are really rare?", asked Aerith the wolf curiously, while he nodded. „What color had your mother?" Cloud looked up to the ceiling and smiled a bit, as he remembered his mother. „She was a pure white wolf."

„Aaaww, how was she like?"

„Really kind and caring...almost like you. I bet you two would be the best friends if she would be able to meet you.", said Cloud and smiled a bit at Aerith, who smiled happily back. They both leaned back again and Clouds tail unconsciously fell on Aeriths lap and as he was about to lay it somewhere else, she hold it tightly, but gently, so that it kept laying on her lap and began to caress it lightly. Just as he felt Aeriths soft and gentle touch, he immediately began to blush and kept looking away from her to hide it.

„Cloud, may I ask you how old you are?", asked Elmyra him curiously, while Cloud began to count. „I'm 252 moons old. And in human years...21."

„You count the moons?"

„Yeah, they say it's simpler, and because of the fact that we aren't humans, or dogs or whatnot. We have a normal human lifespan. But I heard some wolves were at least 400 years old, our elders."

„Woooow!", Aerith exclaimed and unconsciously squeezed his tail painfully tight, while Cloud grit his teeth to ignore this pain as best as he could. Aerith noticed it and immediately let go of his tail. „Oh, sorry."

„It's okay...", he replied and forced himself to smile at her a bit and suddenly Aerith jumped up, took Cloud hand and dragged him with her. „Night, mom!" Aerith didn't wait for her mother to reply and Cloud had to register what just happened and found himself after a moment in Aeriths room. „Let's talk a bit.", said Aerith as she sat down on her bed and Cloud next to her. „Okay...About what?"

„You're journey. I wanna go with you." Cloud eyes widened as he heard this. He looked into her eyes to search for a sign that this was just a joke, but he found none, just pure determination. „Aerith, you can't come with me, it's way too dangerous! On my way we meet a horde of wolves!" Cloud said this to frighten her, but he didn't expected her eyes to begin to glitter with delight.

„I mean, okay, we'll met a few friends of mine, but also these bloodthirsty silver wolves!" At this Aerith just smiled at him. „Cloud you can't frighten me. As long as I'm with you I know I'll be safe.", she said confidently, while Cloud began to sigh loudly. „Don't be so sure..." As much as he wanted her to come with him, he couldn't drag her into danger like this. He would never forgive himself if something happens to her...

„But...there's really something I'm afraid of..." Clouds ears pricked up at this. „Of what?"

„...Please don't laugh, okay?" He tilted his head a bit, wondering what she means and just nodded in agreement. „I'm afraid of...the sky...", she mumbled the last part and looked away from Cloud in shame.

Cloud blinked for a few times and remained silent, until he realized what she just said. „It's so big, like it would devour me, or something like that.", she explained quickly and looked up at him, as he still didn't said anything, or even laughed, just to see that Cloud smiled warmly at her. „Aerith, you don't have to be afraid of the sky. It's really beautiful." Aerith looked into his azure blue eyes for a moment and thought for a while. „Like your eyes?"

„Yeah, like them. You're not afraid of them, are you?"

„No, they're beautiful. I mean, they remind me of the sky, but don't look scary at all.", she replied and smiled warmly at him and after a moment Cloud realized what Aerith just said to him. _I should __say something to her too..._„Well, you're eyes are beautiful, too. I mean I live in the woods, I see a lot of green, so I know what I'm talking about.", he joked and continued on. „The color reminds me of the first leaves in spring, or these gemstones...What was their name again...?"

„Emeralds?"

„Yeah! Like emeralds!", he finished and smiled at her, while she smiled back at him, with a tiny blush on her face and muttered a quiet „Thank you".

„And don't worry, as long as you're with me I make sure the sky doesn't hurt you.", he teased and grinned a bit at Aerith, who suddenly looked at him. „You mean I can come with you?" Cloud eyes widened slightly as he realized he used the wrong words. „Well...I want you to come with me, but I don't want to expose you to danger..."

„Don't worry about it! Well, let's go to bed, huh?", said Aerith and yawned, while Cloud stood up and went to the door. „Okay. See you in the morning, then. You have to be well rested for tomorrow.", he said and opened the door and before he left the room he turned around one last time. „Good night."

„Night!", replied Aerith and lied down in her bed. „Don't you want to change?", asked Cloud, as he noticed that she's still in her pink dress, while Aerith jumped out of the bed. „Oh, right!" She took her clothes and went into the bathroom, while Cloud looked after her for a while and then disappeared in his own room.

Suddenly he felt alone and cold once again, which bothered him immensely. He didn't knew what it meant, or rather he pretended not to know what it meant and just ignored these feelings and lied down in his bed. He turned around every second and forced himself to sleep, but he couldn't. He felt like something's missing, something what can calm him down, but the only thing which came in his mind was Aerith.

_No, don't think of her like that! You're a wolf and she's a human!_, he told himself ever and ever again, but that tiny part in him still refused to believe this. Cloud sighed loudly. _Would it hurt to go to her again...?_, he asked himself and thought for a while. She welcomed him the day, or rather the night before, but will she do it today again?

Cloud sighed once again and thought he, at least, could just try it, so he stood up and went to Aeriths room. He knocked on her door and waited for a reply, but didn't got one. Cloud didn't knew what to do now, so he just opened the door a gap and saw Aerith already entered her room and tiptoed to her bedside and knelled down.

He couldn't help but felt like to ask her for permission before he sleeps in here. „Aerith?", he whispered and waited for a reaction, but she slept deeply and didn't heard him. „Aerith?", the wolf said a bit louder and poked her arm lightly and finally she stirred and opened her eyes. „Hmm?", asked Aerith sleepily as she looked at Cloud with half closed eyes.

„I...I wondered if I could...sleep here again." Cloud mumbled the last part and waited for Aerith to answer, while she smiled warmly at him. _Aaaww, he looks like a lost puppy._, she thought and had to bite back a giggle, then she patted the free space next to her. „Hop in."

Cloud looked at her in shock. „I can sleep on the ground.", he mumbled and looked to the ground in embarrassment, while she began to giggle. „Come on." Cloud thought for a while and then decided not to argue with her and climbed in her and under the covers. He blushed madly as he felt her move next to him, to lie on a more comfortable position. „Good night, Cloud.", said Aerith sleepily and closed her eyes, while Cloud mumbled a quit „Good night.", too, closed his eyes and fell fast asleep as well.

On the next morning Aerith awoke at first again and noticed that Cloud's right next to her, his head rested on her shoulder and an arm wrapped around her waist. Aerith had to suppress a giggle and tried to get out of the bed, but just as she moved Cloud began to groan and held her tighter to himself.

_He's so cute._, thought Aerith as she watched him for a while, but then decided to wake him up so that they can head out to Clouds home. Aerith began to caress his wolfish ear and just as she touched it, it suddenly stood upright, like it's leaning into her touch.

Aerith muffled her giggle behind her free hand and continued to caress him, still enjoying his soft, fluffy fur. Suddenly Cloud pulled her closer to him and nuzzled his face deeper into the crook of her neck. Aerith muffled another giggle, she couldn't help but enjoy what he's doing and she can't wait for Cloud to finally wake up, to see his embarrassed and flushed face.

She continued to caress his ear and slowly went down to his cheek and noticed that even his skin was soft. As she caressed him like that for a while she felt him smile a bit against her neck and smiled as well, still trying to keep quiet. Then she thought it gets boring and pulled on his cheek, waking him up.

As Cloud opened his eyes, he didn't knew where he was, until he saw something very familiar. He saw light curled, chestnut born hair and he also noticed that he held something against him. He looked up, his eyes showing confusion, until he was greeted by a pair of bright emerald green eyes.

At this sight Cloud jumped up quickly and backed away from her. „I—I'm sorry...", he mumbled and looked to his lap, while his wolfish ears fell, to hide his growing blush, while Aerith began to giggle. „It's alright.", she said and smiled warmly at him. „And you know what? As you asked me to sleep here and just now you reminded me of a little, lost puppy."

Cloud tilted his head and looked at her in confusion. He didn't know if it's a compliment or...„Um...Thank you?" At this Aerith began to giggle and got out of the bed. „Let's change! We have a long day!", she said and went to her dresser, while Cloud, who still knelled in her bed, watched her silently.

„Hmmm, what shall I wear...?" Now Cloud stood up and went to her. „You should wear pants. You'll ride on me."

„I'll ride on you?", asked Aerith in delight and looked at him with glittery eyes. „Yeah, we're faster this way."

„Alright! Wait outside! Or do you wanna watching me change?", teased Aerith, while Cloud immediately began to blush and dashed out of her room. Aerith giggled at his behavior, took out her clothes off the dresser and into the bathroom. Cloud already changed and waited downstairs, where Elmyra already made breakfast for everyone.

„Cloud, could you do me a favor?", asked Elmyra after a moment of silence. Clouds ears pricked up and looked to Elmyra curiously. „Of course."

„I want you to protect Aerith." Elmyra turned to him and looked at him with worry in her eyes, while Cloud nodded confidently. „Don't worry. I'll take care of her and protect her." Elmyra smiled at him gratefully, the worry in her eyes completely vanished, that was the moment Aerith entered the kitchen.

Cloud couldn't help but gap at her. She wore simple blue jeans, a sleeveless pink shirt, which hugged her curves perfectly, and her small red jacked. _Even with simple clothes like that she looks beautiful..._, Cloud thought, but tried to dismiss these thoughts. „I'm ready!", she called as she entered the kitchen and noticed Clouds stare. „How do I look?"

Aerith turned around, to show him everything, which let Cloud blush a bit more. Um...You...That...suits you very well.", was all he managed to say. He wanted to say she looked beautiful, but was to nervous to say it aloud. „Thank you, Cloud.", replied Aerith and ruffled his hear teasingly, while his ears fell. He wished that Aerith wouldn't treat him like an animal, which he ironically is, but as a man. Even though he liked to be caressed by her...

„I even packed some things.", she said as she sat down next to Cloud. „And what? I hope you didn't pack to much.", Cloud joked, while Aerith pouted a bit at him. „No. I just packed changing clothes and a blanket." Elmyra gave them both a plate with food and they began to eat. „Aerith, are you really sure you wanna come with me?", asked Cloud her again, unsure if she really meant it and a bit afraid if she said no, but she nodded.

„You know, you have to go without these...luxury things, you humans have."

„I know. I'll miss everything, of course, but I decided to go with you.", she replied and smiled at Cloud and even though he really didn't want to drag her into danger, he couldn't help but felt relieved, as she said she wants to go with him after all.

Once they finished their breakfast Cloud suggested to head out now, considering that they have long way to go. Once Cloud put on his cowl, Aerith said good by to her mother, who gave her another lecture to be careful, and then they left the house. „Okay, where can we go outta here?", asked Cloud as they went a few meter. „We have to go to the upper plate. There's a gate."

Cloud nodded and they went quickly to the town above and left Midgar behind. During that time Aerith always looked to the ground or closed her eyes, to not to look to the sky, while holding on Clouds sleeve. „Aerith, look up.", Cloud said as they went for a while, while Aerith just shook her head, her eyes were tightly shut.

„It looks really beautiful, look!" Once again Aerith shook her head. „Alright, you want it this way!" Cloud spoke with a threatening, but teasingly tone in his voice and Aerith began to fear what he'll do to her.

Then suddenly Cloud began to tickle her mercilessly, while Aerith frantically tried to push him away, but he pulled her against him, so that she can't escape. „Open your eyes.", he whispered in her ear, as he continued to tickle her, until she finally opened her eyes and looked up at the azure blue sky.

„Wooooow!", Aerith exclaimed as she looked at the sky in wonderment there were a few pure white and plushy-looking clouds. „I told you there's no reason to be afraid of it."

„Okay, okay, you were right, I was wrong, happy now?", she said, as she turned back to him and pouted jokingly. „Yes, I am.", he replied and continued walking, while Aerith followed him. As Aerith went next to Cloud she noticed he looked somehow different. „Huh?" Cloud looked at her questioningly. „What is it?" She didn't replied, instead she took his right wolfish ear in her hand and examined it. „You're ear has a white tip!"

„Oh...yeah.", he replied, like it's nothing knew to him, which is actually true. _She finally noticed _„You never told me you have white parts!"

„You never noticed it either. It seems like the light under the plate made completely gray.", he replied with a shrug and continued on. „I have more white parts in my fur. You'll see it soon."

As they climbed up a hill they saw one last time back down to Midgar. „You still can turn back...", said Cloud as they watched the town a while, but secretly hoped she insisted to go with him. „Yes..."

At this Clouds eyes widened. Did she just said she goes back? „But I still wanna go with you.", she added, and smiled brightly at Cloud, who sighed quietly in relieve. As Aerith watched the town a bit longer, Cloud hide behind a giant rock and undressed himself. It's time he changed into a wolf so that they arrive the next wood, or town, today.

„Aerith?", he called her behind that rock and Aerith went to him. „Wait! Stay there.", he quickly said as she came too close to him. „Here, could you put this in your bag?" Cloud gave her his clothes, while she looked a bit shocked, but took it and did as she was told.

„I'm going to change now. I can't talk to you then, but feel free to talk to me.", were his last words before he came from behind the rock as a wolf. Aerith looked at Cloud in wonderment, while Cloud himself felt nervous as he saw how she stared at him. „Wow, Cloud! White suits you!"

Clouds whole back was gray, but from the tip of his tail, to the tip of his nose, he was pure white. Even his paws were white. The wolf blushed underneath his fur, as the young girl continued to examine him. What they didn't knew is that they were being watched...

„Look at this. He's really a wolf.", said the red headed guy, to the blonde woman and the bald-headed man. „Of, course he's a wolf, Reno.", said the girl in slight annoyance. „You believed them too, Elena!", countered the red headed man, whose name's Reno. „What shall we do now?"

„What our boss ordered us to do.", said the bald-headed man calmly. „See? At least Rude knows what to do.", commented Elena with a small grin in her face.

Meanwhile Cloud lied down so that Aerith could climb on his back, but before she could do anything Reno, Rude and Elena appeared in front of them. „Well, well, well, look at this.", said Reno nonchalantly, as they went rather relaxed to the two. „Oh no...", murmured Aerith as she backed away from then and leaned on Cloud now.

„Oh yes. We were ordered to kill this wolf and we'll do it, so step aside!", said the headed guy, as Elena pulled a gun out of its holster. Cloud immediately winced as he saw this weapon, which didn't stayed unnoticed by Aerith. „No! You scare him!", she yelled at them and held Cloud protectively. „Elena, shoot already!", said Reno a bit annoyed, while she glared at him. „I can't shoot. What if I hit her instead?"

As they argued Cloud used the chance, pulled her on his back with his snout and began to run away. Aerith let out a high pitched yelp in surprise as she was pushed up on his back and as he ran. „Hey.", interrupted Rude the two and pointed to the fleeing target. „They escape." Rude talked rather calmly, while Reno and Elena didn't followed them, but blamed each other that they could escape, and considering that the wolf was way to fast and they wouldn't keep up anyway.

Aerith sat in a more comfortable position on Clouds back and hold his fur tightly. She looked behind her and noticed they didn't follow him and sighed in relieve. „They're not following us." Cloud just nodded, but didn't slowed down, he didn't want to risk that they perhaps follow him any moment and keep up.

**A.N.** That was chappy 3^^ I hope you liked it and sorry again for not bringing Clouds childhood in here^^'' Now the three Turks appeared and want to kill Cloud, but they also have another mission to complete...There will be even more characters in the next chappy. You'll meet Clouds pack, and a random pack in a random woodxD

And please don't forget to REVIEW! ;3


	4. Reminiscence of the Past

**A.N.** I guess you all wonder what happened to little Cloudy? Well all I wanna say now is: read to find out^^

Normal POV

„talking"

_Clouds/Aeriths thoughts_

„_Wolf language"_

_**voices of the lifestream**_

**Beauty and the Beast**

Chapter 4: Reminiscence of the Past

As Cloud and Aerith fled for the Turks they seek refuge in a wood near Fort Condor. In the middle of this wood Cloud slowed down and slowly came to a halt. The white-grey wolf panted heavily and lied down, so that Aerith could dismount from his back. Once she was on the ground, she caressed Clouds head lightly.

„Are you alright?", asked Aerith him worriedly, while Cloud nodded and took a deep breath. „Well, just rest for a while. I'll, eh, gather some firewood." Just as Aerith wanted to go Cloud lied his paw in her way, stopping her. She looked back at him and saw him shaking his head, then stood up and went away, while Aerith sighed and sat on a fallen tree.

As Cloud came back he carried firewood in his mouth. He lied it down in front of Aerith and looked at her, asking her if she could make a fire. „No, I can't make a fire.", she replied, as if she could read his mind and continued on. „Don't forget I lived in the city." Aerith giggled as she said this and Cloud just nodded and hid behind a tree and changed back into a human.

„Aerith.", he called her behind his hiding place to get her attention. „Give me my clothes." Aerith quickly took his clothes out of her back and gave them to him. Once Cloud put his clothes on he went back to her and made a fire. „Are you hungry?", asked Cloud her, while she nodded. „Kinda." Aerith sat down and looked into the fire, which seemed to danced in the wind.

„I'll haunt something then. Wait here." Cloud went away and changed back into a wolf again, once he undressed himself once again. _That's so annoying...!_, he growled in his mind, but he doesn't want to rip his clothes. The wolf ran away, his clothes still lied where he left them, to haunt some random animals.

As he haunted two rabbits he ran back to Aerith, with his pray in his mouth, changed back to human, put his clothes on and went back to the campfire, where Aerith waited for him. „I'm back.", he said, to gain her attention. „Welcome back.", she greeted him and giggled as she did so.

Aerith quickly looked away as she saw the two dead rabbits. She knew they need to eat them to survive, but she couldn't help but feel sorry for them. Normally Cloud ate his pray immediately, like he was taught to do, but once he tasted fried meat, he wanted to eat it again and waited. He prepared the meat, spit them with a stick and broiled them.

„Here." Cloud gave her some meat and she took it. „Thank you." She smiled at the wolf thankfully and took a bite. Cloud wondered what's wrong with her. She barely talked to him and it always seemed she wanted to ask him something but decided against it. „What's wrong Aerith?"

Aerith remained silent for a while before she answered. „I wanted to ask you something...", she began, but stopped, as if she was afraid to ask. Cloud payed her all his attention and urged her to continue. „But don't be mad, okay? I wondered if you could tell me what happened to you after your mother was killed..."

_So that's what she wanted to ask me..._, Cloud thought and now looked to the fire. It's still painful to talk about it, but he knew he could tell Aerith everything. „I'm not mad. If you really want to now, I'll tell you." Cloud looked back at the fire as he remembered that day...

* * *

><p>The little wolf cried himself to sleep, but suddenly awoke as he heard the bushes rustled. He kept quiet and hoped it's not an enemy and took a few steps backwards to hide more under the bush, where his mother hide him. Suddenly he saw little black paws waddled and stopped in front of him. Then he was greeted by a pair of azure blue eyes looking straight in his.<p>

The little wolf backed away, out of the bush and ran away but he ran against an arm. He looked up an saw a giant, grumpy looking wolf staring down at him. He had dark brown fur, a scar across his face and blue eyes. „Hey, look what I've found!", called the little black wolf from behind the bush and crawled under the bush to go to the little white-grey one.

„Aaaw, how cute!", said another, feminine wolf and came from behind that scarred one. She was also really big and had black fur and brown eyes. The feminine wolf lied down to go on eye level with the tiny wolf. „Who are you? And where are your parents?", asked the feminine wolf with a gentle tone. „And what are you doing here?", growled the scarred one, which made the little wolf to back away once more. „Leon, shut up, you're scaring him!", growled the feminine wolf back to him and he immediately went quite, once he sighed.

The feminine wolf turned back to the little one. „My name's Rinoa. And you?" The wolf, named Rinoa, smiled at the little wolf, to enlighten the mood a bit. The little wolf's legs were shaking and he wished to have his mother with him more than ever. „C-Cloud...", mumbled the little wolf with an also shaking voice.

„Cloud?" Rinoa gasped, almost like she knew him already. „What's your mother's name?" Cloud didn't know why she asked him this but he thought it's better to just answer it. „C-Cynthia...", he stuttered and heard another gasp from Rinoa, but also from that other wolf, whose name's Leon.

Rinoa gave Leon a short look of worry, before she turned her attention back to Cloud.

„Where is she?"

„S-she was...she was..." Cloud couldn't say this word and just repeated these two words, before he began to cry again. Rinoa immediately understood what he meant and snuggled her snout to his face to calm him down. „Ssshhh. Don't cry. Everything's alright now.", she said with a comforting voice and waited for the little wolf to calm down.

Once Cloud calmed down he looked up at Rinoa, who looked at him with a worried expression. „Cloud, it's the best when you come with us.", said Rinoa gently, while Cloud shook his head frantically. „No! Mommy always told me not go with strangers!", the little wolf yelled and was about to run away, but the little black wolf blocked his path.

„Are you crazy! You'll die when you don't go with us!", yelled the black wolf a bit angrily, while the feminine wolf growled a bit to shut him up. The little wolves immediately flinched at Rinoas growl and went quiet. „We're not strangers. We're your mothers friends. I'm sure she wanted to go to us. You can trust me."

The little wolf looked at her suspiciously. She didn't looked like she was lying and the black one was right. He would die out here. He was all alone and would be glad if he survived 2 or at least 3 days...Cloud nodded hesitantly, while Rinoa smiled at him again. „And Zack.", she addressed the little black one. „Don't leave the pack ever again!" She told him this with a stern voice, Cloud mused she must be an alpha...The black wolf, whose names Zack, flinched again and quickly apologized.

Clouds train of thought was interrupted, as Rinoa picked him up and carried him in her mouth. She took the lead, while the other two wolves followed her. After a while they arrived a camp, which is obviously populated by humans. As Cloud saw them he tried to free himself from Rinoas grip, to flee, but she just clenched her jaw a bit more, biting him, while Cloud whined in slight pain.

Then Rinoa put him down to the ground again and Cloud hide behind her. „Don't be afraid. This is our pack." Cloud looked at her in confusion. „What? But these are these...things who...who killed mommy!"

„Don't worry. It's just our disguise. Zack." The little black wolf stopped in front of her. „Take Cloud to your tent and give him some clothes.", she "ordered" with a soft tone in her voice. „Alright! Come with me." The black wolf took the lead and went into one of the tents, while Cloud followed him hesitantly.

As Cloud entered the tent he saw Zack changed into a human. The little wolf backed away as he saw a naked human, with wolf ears and tale and spiky black hair, instead of a black wolf. Zack put some clothes, a white shirt and black shorts, on and turned to Cloud. He began to laugh as he saw Clouds frightened expression. „What? Never saw a human before?", he teased and looked at him in surprise as he saw him nodding.

„How old are you?"

„S-seven..."

„Seven? And you still don't now how to change?", Zack exclaimed in shock, but immediately began to laugh again. „I...can do that too?", asked Cloud Zack confused. „Of course! How come you never learned it? What did your mother taught you?" Zack laughed once again, but died down as Cloud bite his ankle. „Ow! Stop biting me!" The black haired boy grabbed the little wolfs neck and picked him up. Both of them glared at each other and growled until Zack let him fall.

„Ouf!" Cloud fell hard on his stomach and looked up at Zack. He knelled down to the wolf and explained how to change. „Just concentrate.", was all he said. Zack also told him to figure out by himself how to change, it's always different with each wolf. Cloud did as he was told, closed his eyes and concentrate.

After a while he opened his eyes again and felt kinda different. He raised his paw, but it wasn't a paw anymore but a human hand! He examined his hand for a while, opened and closed it and then examined the rest of his new body. He lost all his fur, that means he could see everything, he wasn't able to see, as he had his fur.

„Wow, so that's how you look as a human.", Zack said and gave him a mirror. Cloud looked into it and saw a human face (of course) with spiky blonde hair and bright, sapphire blue eyes. „Woow...", was all Cloud could say to his human shape. His wolf ears and tale where still there and for the first time of his life he saw his right ear had a white tip.

„Is that...really me?" Suddenly he couldn't see anything anymore. „Here, put these clothes on and come outside.", said Zack as he threw a black shirt and black shorts towards Clouds head and left the tent.

Once Cloud was dressed he also left the tent and saw a woman just left another tent. She had mid-long black hair and very familiar brown eyes. She wore a black, sleeveless shirt, a dark blue skirt, black leggings, a very long blue vest, which reached to her ankle and blue gauntlets. Her wolf ears and tail were black. „Oh, Cloud!" The woman went to Cloud and knelled down in front of him.

„You look so cute as a human.", she said and smiled at him. „Who...?" She began to giggle, as she saw his confused expression. „Rinoa." Clouds eyes widened as he realized it's really Rinoa! The woman ruffled Clouds hair, stood up and went to the other humans, who also had wolf ears and tail with the same color as her hair, unlike him, he noticed.

„Cloud, meet my pack!"

„Hey!", called a deep, familiar, male voice. „What do you mean with 'your pack'?" Cloud looked at the direction the voice came from and saw a man with dark brown hair, very familiar blue eyes and a scar across his face. He wore a white sleeveless shirt, a black leather jacket and black pants with at least three belts on it.

„Oh, forgive me, I meant OUR pack.", corrected Rinoa herself and began to giggle. „Guys, meet our new member, Cloud." Every member of Rinoas and Leons pack gathered around Cloud and greeted him one by one. „Hello! Welcome new one!", exclaimed a still young looking woman with an orange-looking hair color, which is tied in two pigtails and forest green eyes. She pulled him in a tight hug, while Cloud frantically tried to free himself from her grip.

„I'm Oerba Dia Vanille! But you can call me Vanille! Nice to meet you!", said the extremely hyper woman and finally let go of him, while Cloud fell to the ground and took deep breaths. Then another woman went to Cloud. She had shoulder-length black hair, blue eyes and also blue clothes. „I'm Oerba Yun Fang. Just Fang's fine. Nice to meet ya, little one." Fang ruffled Clouds hair roughly and laughed as he wanted to back away from her.

The next one was also a black haired woman, but her hair was tied together. She had orange-looking eyes and wore a black dress with lots of belts. „I'm Lulu.", the woman said and made room for the others. A silver haired man greeted him next. „I'm Cecil." The man smiled at the little wolf and Cloud knew immediately that he'll get along with him very well.

The next one was a blonde haired woman. Her hair was tied in a pony tail and smiled sweetly at Cloud. „I'm Terra, welcome." Clouds eyes fell to the next one, who had a straight face and had short, dark hair, which looked like blue and his eyes shimmered in a ruby red color. „I'm Noctis.", he said and nodded in his direction.

The next one looked a tiny bit like Noctis, but cheerier with short black hair and blue eyes. „Yo! I'm Noel!", he said and grinned at the little boy. All Cloud could think in this moment is that Rinoas and Leons pack was BIG! And there were still some left.

Then a bit older-looking woman with short silver hair and friendly, emerald green eyes, knelled in front of him and ruffled his hair gently, while he let her. „My name is Nora." Behind that woman was a little boy, who looked exactly like the woman. _He must be her son..._, Cloud mused. The boy looked shyly at him, but smiled brightly. „My name's Hope, nice to meet you." The next ones were two girls. The first one had long blonde hair, which was tied together and green eyes.

She ran very excitedly to Cloud and hugged him tightly. „I'm Rikku!" The other girl had short, a bit spiky, brown hair and multicolored eyes, her right eye was green and the other blue. „Hi, I'm Yuna.", she said and smiled sweetly at him.

The next one was a girl with mid-long black hair and brown eyes, who also smiled friendly at Cloud. „I'm Garnet." Then two sisters approached him. The older one had shoulder length, strawberry-blonde hair, which hung loosely over her left shoulder, while the other side was a bit spiky. Her eyes had a piercing, cold blue color and looked sternly at him. The younger one looked exactly alike her sister. The only difference from her older sister was the fact that she looked cheerier. Her eyes were friendly and she smiled brightly at Cloud.

„Hello! I'm Serah! Welcome to our pack!" She was very friendly and cheery, unlike her older sister. „Lightning.", said the older one coldly and nodded in his direction, while Cloud almost didn't get what she meant with "Lightning" _Lightning...? Is that her name?_ And at last, the boy from before approached him. „I didn't introduced myself, did I? I'm Zack! Nice to meet ya, buddy!" Zack patted him on his shoulder and grinned widely at Cloud.

Now Rinoa talked again. „Okay, guys. As I said, he's our new member. I want you all to treat him well. And he'll sleep in the kids tent. There's still room for one more. Oh, by the way...", she added in a sad tone. „He's Cynthias son. She died as they wanted to find us."

All the grown ups gasped in shock. Cloud wondered if they ALL knew his mother and even if, what relationship did she had with these guys? „Alright, guys, it's real late now. We should sleep.", said Leon and everyone immediately went to their tents. Zack approached him again and lied an arm around his shoulders, as they went into their tent.

„Hey, buddy! I'm glad to finally have another male being in here! You really go crazy with all these girls!", he said and began to laugh, while Cloud didn't reply. As they entered the tent, Garnet gave Cloud a sleeping bag. „Here. You might need it, the nights are really cold now."

„Thank you...", mumbled Cloud as he took the sleeping bag from the smiling girl. Everyone else were already in their sleeping bags and lied in a circle. Yuna leaned her head on her hands and looked curiously at Cloud. „Where are you come from?" Cloud looked to the ground, his ears and tail fell. „I...don't really know..."

„You don't know?", asked Serah confused. „Mom and I always traveled. We were such in a hurry all this time, I couldn't ask her for our home...But I remember she said something about a village called...Nibelheim."

„Nibelheim...? It's just 'round the corner, right?", asked Zack everyone. „Yeah.", replied Lightning plainly. „But don't sweat it, Cloud! Now you have a home!", said Rikku happily and grinned widely at him. „Yeah. We will treat you like our brother." Cloud became all teary eyed, as Zack said this.

Garnet knelled down in front of him and ruffled his hair gently. „What's wrong?" Now, Clouds tears fell freely down his cheeks. „I'm just happy.", he sobbed and found himself in Garnets embrace. The others joined them and the comforting hug turned into a group hug. Once Cloud calmed down they lied into their sleeping bags and chatted. First of all they told Cloud their ages. Zack was eight and so was Yuna, Cloud and Lightning were seven, Hope and Serah five, Garnet was fourteen and Rikku six. They chatted for a few more minutes, before everyone fell asleep.

* * *

><p>„You lived in the woods as humans?", asked Aerith, as Cloud finished talking. „Yeah, except for the cold seasons. When it's warm, humans walk through the woods and we pretend to do camping and in the cold seasons we stay wolves."<p>

„Oh, I see. Why did Zack ask you for your age and then laughed at you?"

„Because wolves can change for the first time when they're five. The parents choose which shape their kids will take and they'll stay in this shape till their fifth birthday.", he explained, while Aerith nodded understandingly „Do you have some other questions?" Aerith nodded hastily. „How come your pack knew your mother?" Cloud went quiet for a while, before he replied. „I don't know."

„You never asked them?"

„...Not really..."

„I see. I don't have any questions anymore." Cloud looked up and saw it's already night. „We should sleep now.", he suggested, whereupon Aerith nodded and took her sleeping bag out of her bag. As she lied down, she immediately fell asleep, while Cloud remained awake. As he looked up to the sky and saw the full moon, he couldn't help but howl to it, which caused Aerith to awake with a start.

She looked around frantically, searching for an enemy, but there was none. „Sorry...did I wake you?", asked Cloud apologetically, while Aeriths eyes found Cloud. „You did this?"

„Yeah...Sorry for waking you up..."

„It's okay." Aerith smiled sleepily at him, while Cloud gave her a small smile of his own and turned his attention back to the moon. „You know...", he began without looking at her. „Mom and I always howled to the moon. Wolves are doing this to find their pack, but we didn't had one, so we did it just for fun. And she said it's an old habit."

„It sounds like it's the only connection you and your mother share..." Cloud nodded. „It is."

„No, it's not." The wolf looked at her with a confused expression. „You are the connection to your mother. For what you told me, you have her eyes, her fur color, hair color, your looks in general and also bits of her personality. Everything on you is that connection."

He looked up to the moon, thoughtfully. „...I guess you're right..." Aerith almost wanted to say something like "I know, I am.", but decided against it. She looked up at the moon, too, and found herself howling to it. Cloud looked at her startled, while she just smiled warmly at him. „And? How was I?"

Cloud began to smile too. „Good. Very good. I almost thought you're a wolf, too.", he replied, while Aerith began to giggle. Once she calmed down, they began to howl together. After a few more minutes of howling to the moon, Aerith fell sound asleep, while Cloud couldn't help, but wanted to sleep by her side, which he did, once he convinced himself that she's in a deep sleep.

* * *

><p>As Aerith woke up the next day, she found herself alone. She looked around to look where Cloud was, but he wasn't here anymore and she wondered where he went. Then Aerith could hear lapping. <em>A bath is just what I need right now.<em>, she thought happily, stood up, took her bag and followed the sound. As a big lake was in sight, she went a bit faster, just to be greeted by a sight of a naked Cloud, who stood under a tiny waterfall.

His back was luckily facing her and his tail covered his pubic area, but seeing him like this, naked...Aeriths face turned completely red and she quickly hide behind a tree. _Oh my...He's really well-toned...and he has many scars, but he looks really...sexy._ The green eyed girl blushed even more at this thought and accidentally stepped over a twig.

Clouds ears pricked up, as he heard some noises. He scanned his surroundings, but found nothing. Then he sniffed the air and his eyes widened as he recognized this all to familiar scent. _She's here! She's...watching me?_ Cloud immediately knelled into the water to cover his pubic area.

_Did he notice me?_, thought Aerith as she watched the wolf curiously. Cloud just pretended to not notice her and crawled to the deeper parts of the lake. The wolf swam to the edge and leaned on it, his head rested on his crossed arms. He closed his eyes for a while, just concentrating himself on Aeriths sweet, flowery scent and wondered how long she wants to watch him.

The very thought of Aerith being here, watching him, now that he was naked, caused him to blush madly. As the wolf was lost in his thoughts he suddenly felt a stinging pain in his tail and fell into the water, out of shock. Aerith continued watching him and wondered what just happened.

Cloud swam back to the water surface and to catch his breath. He raised his tail and saw a crab hanging there, his nippers grasped his tail painfully tight._ What's a crab doing here?_ He swung his tail from side to side, back and forth, here and there, to finally get rid of it, but it won't let go. „Let go!", Cloud growled to the crab, but it didn't obey.

Then he tried to catch it, but he just grabbed air. He tried it again, but he still couldn't catch it. He tried it again and again, but all he did is turning and turning around in circles. Aerith muffled a giggle with her hands as she saw this scenery, while Cloud stopped for a moment to catch his breath.

He could hear her giggle clearly and his ears and tail fell, but not just because she's laughing at him, but also out of frustration. The wolf growled at the crab one more time, but he still didn't let go of him. That's when Cloud got furious. He jumped out of the water and changed mid-air into a wolf and as his paws touched the ground he tried to catch it with his teeth, but he still couldn't catch it.

Cloud ran after his tail, still trying to catch it, while Aerith tried really hard to laugh aloud. After a few minutes of trying to catch his tail, Cloud stopped to catch his breath, that's when Aerith stepped out of her hiding place and went to him. Cloud saw her and his eyes widened, on one side to pretend to be shocked that she watched him and on the other side, because he's REALLY surprised that she showed herself.

Aerith went to him with a smile on her face, lied her bag on the ground and held the crab in her hands. She caressed it lightly and it let go of the wolf's tail. „When you treat everyone well, they'll treat you well, too.", she said to him, as she sat the crab on the ground again.

Then she looked up and smiled brightly at him. „Right?" The wolf just frowned a bit and looked away from her again. He looked back at her, though, as he heard some noises coming from her and his eyes widened as he saw her slipping out of her red jacket and let it fall to the ground.

Just as she wanted to take off her shirt, she noticed him staring at her with wide eyes. „Do you wanna watching me undress?", she teased and Cloud immediately blushed a scarlet red under his fur, let himself fall to the ground and covered his eyes with his paws. The green eyed girl began to giggle, which caused Cloud to blush even more, if possible.

He heard her undress herself and going into the water. „You can look now." Cloud wasn't sure if he really wanted to look...He feared he could loose control of himself if he saw her. Naked. In a lake. Just the thought of it let him almost grow excited. He's just a man too! You can' blame him! Every man would react like this when they see such a beauty...

Cloud shook his head, to dismiss these thoughts of her immediately, stood up and made his way to his clothes. He kept one eye closed, though, so that he won't see her naked form. He took his clothes and hid behind a big rock. Just as he wanted to change he heard Aerith groan. „Come on! You're no fun!" Cloud risked a tiny look to her and sighed in relieve as he saw her body's hidden underwater. „Come on!", she called again and waved, motioned him to go to her, and his eyes widened. _„Are you crazy?"_, he shouted in shock, but sadly just in wolf language, but as he saw her look, he couldn't say no to her anymore and went slowly to her.

„Give me my bag, please!" Cloud didn't understand why she needed her bag, but took it and went to her. Aerith swam to the edge and took her, took her bag and pulled something out. _„Shampoo?"_ Aerith noticed Clouds look and explained herself. „Hey, I want my hair to look good!" And before Cloud could even think anything else, she added quickly. „Even in the woods!"

Cloud turned around to go to the rock again, but stopped as Aerith grabbed his tail. „Come in!", she said happily, which let him completely freeze on this place and forget about the fact that she's holding his tail. He looked back to her again and searched her eyes for any teasing, but found none. She was deadly serious.

Aerith noticed his uneasiness, so she turned around and covered her eyes with her hands. At this point Cloud didn't know what to do. Shall he just listen to her, change back and take a bath with her? Or shall he flee immediately? Cloud decided for the first option. _I can't slip this chance away like this._, he thought, changed back to human and stepped into the water.

„You can look." Aerith turned around, as she heard him say this and grinned widely at him. _He really did it! I thought he'll run away._, she thought and bit back a giggle. „What?", asked Cloud her and raised an eyebrow in confusion. „Oh, nothing." She took her shampoo and went to the deeper parts of the lake. Once she made her hair wet, she began to wash it properly, while Cloud just watched her.

Once she finished everything, she looked at Cloud, who's still staring at her, in amusement. He quickly looked away from her to hid his blush. „Come here!", called Aerith, while Cloud looked at her in confusion and slight shock. „Don't you wanna wash your hair too?", she asked him teasingly, before Cloud could say anything.

The wolf just blushed more and went hesitantly to the girl. „Turn around." He did as he was told and turned around, his back facing her now. Cloud almost jumped as he suddenly felt her soft hands massaging his head with the shampoo. He was way too shocked to talk and just let her have her way and closed his eyes, to enjoy this moment as long as possible.

As she finished washing his hair she dived him into the water without warning. Cloud quickly came back up and took a deep breath, then shook his head to get rid of the water in his hair and became spiky again. „Wow, your hair's still spiky, even though it's wet.", exclaimed Aerith in amazement. „Yeah, it's naturally spiky." After a while they decided to go out of the water to continue they little journey.

Aerith was the first, who got out of the water and dressed, while Cloud looked away, then it was Clouds turn. They went back to their camp, packed everything in Aeriths bag and went through the woods. Suddenly Cloud felt the presence of other wolves and stopped.

„What's wrong?", asked Aerith him worried, while Cloud scanned his surroundings and pricked his ears up. „We probably went into a territory of another pack...", he guessed, while he felt this pack came closer to them. Cloud looked at the direction the noises came from and went into a fighting stance, all his muscles were tensed as he prepared himself to fight, if he has to.

Then a silver wolf came from behind the shadows. Aerith looked at him frighteningly, as she thought it could be one of those bloodthirsty ones and came closer to Cloud and held tightly on his sleeve. As the silver wolf came closer to them, Aerith hide her face in Clouds sleeve, but what startled her was the fact that Cloud's not tensed anymore, but relaxed.

„_Cloud! There you are!"_, exclaimed the silver wolf happily, as he stopped in front of the couple. Then a yellow and two black wolves appeared and stood behind their leader. _„Where were you? Everyone were worried about you!"_

„_Hi, Cecil. I was in Midgar."_, replied Cloud, while the silver furred wolf just shook his head. _„Midgar...I should have known it."_

„_Why?"_

„_Did you forget? Midgar was one of your temporary homes you and your mother had."_

„_Yeah...right, I remember you guys told me this...However, what are you doing here, Cecil?"_ The silver wolf, named Cecil, shrugged. _„Travel around, finding new territory and keeping an eye on you."_

„_Yeah! If we knew you were in Midgar we would've killed this town and got ya outta there!"_, yelled one of the black ones. _„Barret."_, said Cecil in an exhorting tone. _„We would've been earlier here, when a certain someone didn't lead us the wrong way..."_, said the yellow one and glanced to the other black wolf. _„Hey, __**I**__ lead us to Cloud just now, didn't I?"_, said the black one and grinned.

„_It's nice to see you again, too, Barret, Kain and Laguna."_

Aerith stared perplexed at the wolves who were chatting like old friends. _„To be hones: we only found you as we heard you last night. And we also heard you have a consort."_ Clouds face turned immediately dark red as Cecil said this. _„Th-that's not...!"_

„_Oh?"_ Cecil noticed the green eyed girl behind his comrade. _„Is it her?"_ The silver furred wolf let his head sank to get on eye level at her. Aeriths fear completely vanished as she looked into these gentle, crystal blue eyes. „Hi.", she said and smiled at him, while the four wolves noticed something else. Laguna quickly approached her and sniffed her, while Cloud began to growl quietly. The silver wolf nudged him hardly with his elbow.

„_Laguna! Stop it!"_, growled the silver wolf, while Laguna winced a bit and told him his discovery. _„But Cecil! Man, she's a human!"_ The four wolves looked at Cloud in shock. They never expected him to have a consort, let alone a HUMAN consort. _„Guys! She's not my consort! I just show her the planet!"_, explained Cloud himself, but the wolves didn't listen to him. _„Wow, Cloud, we always wanted to hook ya up with some nice wolves and what are ya doin'? Ya go to Midgar and catch yaself a human girl!"_

„_Congrats, Cloud, I never expected you to have a consort."_, said Kain, once Barret finished his speech. _„You know, as we heard you two yesterday, we thought she's another wolf."_, said Cecil and chuckled. „What is he laughing at?", asked Aerith Cloud quietly. „They thought you were a wolf. They heard us the day before.", Cloud explained and had to bite back a chuckle. „How embarrassing...", mumbled Aerith, but couldn't help but giggle at the thought that these wolves thought of her being one of their kind.

„Aerith, these guys are Cecil, Barret, Kain and Laguna.", introduced Cloud, while Aerith smiled brightly at them. „Nice to meet you.", greeted the green eyed girl, but then it hit her. „Oh! Cecil? He's in your pack, right?"

Cloud shook his head. „No, not anymore. After a few years, I joined the pack, we got another new member. Her name was Rosa. Her pack was killed and she asked us to join us as well. Rinoa and Leon agreed, of course. Cecil and Rosa got along with each other very well and everyone always teased him about this. Then a few more years later they were a couple and wanted to create their own pack, just like Rinoa and Leon did. Rinoa was sad and almost didn't let them go, but she was glad they found each other and she knew they'll take good care of each other and find wolves, who want to join them. Now they have a big pack, almost like ours and even though we're two separate packs, we take care of each other and act like one. You can say we're like a big, happy family, even though we're not related to each other, except for Lightning and Serah."

„Oooohh~!", exclaimed Aerith and looked at him with glittery eyes, which caused Cloud to blush again. Then she turned to Cecil and caressed him a bit on his head. „Hi, Cecil, nice to meet you!" She repeated this action to Laguna, Kain and Barret and they wondered why she's doing this, but mused it must be her way. _„Guys this is Aerith Gainsborough. She lived her whole life in Midgar, so I thought to show her around the world a bit."_ The four wolves bowed their heads to Aerith and then turned their attention back to Cloud.

„_Where are you going now?"_, asked Cecil him curiously. _„Back home."_

„_You're not mad anymore, are you?"_ Cloud looked away in shame. _„No...I'll try to deal with it."_

„_Good. Always remember: we all need you. The Nibelheim wolves want to attack soon."_

„_I know. Do you guys join us?"_ Laguna began to laugh at Clouds question. _„Rather not! You surely wanna be alone with your little sweetheart!"_ The four wolves started to laugh at this immediately, while Cloud just growled at them. Aerith asked Cloud what they're laughing at, but he just replied with a „Not important.". Once Cecil and his little group left in the direction of Midgar, Cloud and Aerith head out to Gongaga.

„Hey, Cloud. What is your and Cecils pack exactly?", asked Aerith after a moment of silence. „Well...Rinoa and Leon "adopt" homeless and lonely wolves, so that they have a home and a family."

„Wow, they're really nice!", said Aerith with glittery eyes. „They are. And we have a few more member now."

„Really? Tell me about them!"

„You'll meet them soon enough." They continued walking through the wood in silence, until Cloud noticed something. „There are no more packs in this wood..."

„I wonder why..."

„Me too. But I guess this wood will belong to Cecil soon." Once they left the wood behind, Cloud changed back to a wolf. Aerith tucked his clothes into her bag and climbed on Clouds back. The wolf ran in full speed to the next wood: the one near Junon.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile...<p>

„We have to haunt this wolf? Why? He's outside of Midgar, isn't he?", yelled Reno in annoyance, while their boss Tseng explained everything to the three Turks Reno, Elena and Rude. „That wolf was in Midgar before, as a puppy. We let him and his mother flee, but president Shinra once told us, to kill him, if he'll ever returned." Reno sighed in annoyance and got a slap on his head from Elena. „Shut up, Reno! Order's order!"

„However...", added Tseng. „That girl, who went with him...We need her."

„Why? What's so special about her?", asked Reno, still with an annoyed tone in his voice. „I don't know either, but president Rufus told us she's important to his plans and we need to bring her back." The three Turks stood at attention. „Right!", they said in unison, before they left Tsengs office.

**A.N.** I'm sorry for the late update again, but I was ill last week and couldn't write any more. I hope you liked Clouds childhood, even if it was a bit sad, but...^^''' And now you could see Cecil and a few members of his own big pack.^^ I hope to show you the new members of Clouds pack and also Cecils pack in the next chappy. See ya till then^^

And PLEASE REVIEW! ;3


	5. The Amusement Park

**A.N.** Sorry for the late update again, but I had some writers block and was inspired to write My Special SomeoneXD

Normal POV

„talking"

_Clouds/Aeriths thoughts_

„_Wolf language"_

_**voices of the lifestream**_

**Beauty and the Beast**

Chapter 5: The Amusement Park

The wolf ran in full speed to the next wood near Junon with the flower girl on his back. Aerith lied on his back, but supported herself on her arms and held tightly on his fur. The wolf got used to her touches a bit, but he still blushed a bright red color, whenever she touched him. Aerith herself couldn't get enough of touching his soft, plushy fur. „You know...", began Aerith, to gain his attention.

His ears immediately pricked up, as he heard her voice. „Your fur's now much softer than before." Aerith began to caress his back, shoulders, neck, ears and head lightly, always grasping a handful fur in her hands.

Suddenly Cloud found himself purring. He didn't even know that wolves are be able to purr. He quickly stopped, hoping Aerith didn't hear it, but she did. „Aaaww! That sounded so cuuuttee~!", she exclaimed and continued to caress him, to make him purr again. The wolf fought against it, but found himself purring again...Aerith giggled as she heard this sound again.

Suddenly Cloud heard another noise, something from above...He looked up an saw a helicopter, but not just that, they were shooting at him! Even though it was just one shoot, Cloud panicked and quickly stopped, while the bullet hit the ground right in front of him.

Cloud pranced , which caused Aerith to fall off his back on the hard ground. As the wolf felt the lost of weight on his back, he quickly looked over his shoulder to see Aerith lying motionless on the ground. He immediately was by her side and nudged her lightly with his snout, to wake her up. She opened her eyes and looked at him, a small, weak smile's on her face.

„Don't worry.", she said and caressed his snout. „It just took all my breath away for a while." Cloud sighed in relieve and looked up at the helicopter. „Reno! Are you crazy? Why did you shot?", yelled Elena inside the helicopter. „To kill the wolf, of course!"

„And what if you hit the girl instead?" Reno remained silent for a while. „Bad luck."

„BAD LUCK?" Elena leaped at him, which caused the helicopter to fly around, like a crazy man would pilot it. Both, Cloud and Aerith, tilted their heads, as they watched the helicopter, before they took advantage of this situation. Aerith climbed quickly on his back and the wolf ran in full speed.

A few minutes later they arrived the wood near Junon. Cloud stopped and sniffed the air. _They're near..._, he thought, while Aerith wondered why he stopped. „Cloud, is something wrong?" The wolf just shook his head and entered the wood. He took careful steps and always looked around to search for enemies.

He froze, though, as he heard some noises. Suddenly a yellow wolf jumped out of the bush and stopped in front of him. Clouds body tensed up, which didn't get unnoticed by Aerith and she knew he must be an enemy.

The white-grey wolf stood in his fighting position, bared his teeth and growled at the yellow wolf. _„Well, look who's here. Cloud Strife, the little wimp."_, said the yellow wolf and bared his teeth too, but to a grin. Suddenly two other wolves came from behind the bushes and surrounded him. _„Let's kill him, Seifer!"_, said the black one. The silver one remained silent and the yellow one, whose name's Seifer, shook his head.

„_That's not my decision."_, he said, then he noticed Aerith, who's still on Clouds back. _„Who's __this?"_, he asked and pointed with his snout to Aerith, while Cloud growled louder. _„Human."_, said the silver wolf plainly. _„A human? You mean a little snack?"_ Cloud growled even louder, but Seifer and his group remained unimpressed. All three wolves encircled him. Cloud looked to Aerith and looked at her with pleading eyes, to tell her to climb down.

Aerith understood and got off his back. The wolf wrapped an arm around her and held her close to him in a protective manner. Aerith leaned on him and held his fur tightly, as she watched the three wolves in fear.

„_I just want to pass this wood. I don't want to fight with you."_, said Cloud, his voice was still strong, but almost a bit friendly to not sound like he would kill them. _„Pass this wood, huh? You just can't go through our territory without a punishment."_, said Seifer darkly. _„The whole wood is your territory!"_, argued Cloud.

„_Too bad."_ Cloud growled louder again, but went quiet as he felt another presence. Then a giant, female, silver wolf joined them. _„Ultimecia."_ Cloud recognized her, while she stopped in front of him the three wolves stood behind her. _„You again."_, said Ultimecia with an angry and annoyed tone in her voice.

„_Yeah. I wanna go through here."_ Ultimecia encircled Cloud. _„So, you wanna go through here. What makes you think we'll let you?"_

„_'Cause if you do, you'll never see me ever again."_

„_Never?"_ Ultimecia sounded interested. _„Never."_ Seifer went impatient and spoke. _„Why do you listen to him? Let's kill him!"_

„_**I**__ make all the decisions!"_, growled Ultimecia, whereupon Seifer went quiet. _„Why should I spare you? I hate you like no other on the world. You and your mother bothered me years ago and now you come back and think you can go through our territory, like it's some human territory!"_, growled Ultimecia, as she stopped in front of him again and bared her teeth dangerously. _„Let's make a compromise."_, said Cloud calmly.

„_A compromise? Go on."_

„_You let me pass the wood and when I ever return...you may kill me."_ The giant, silver wolf grinned wickedly. _„Sounds compelling..."_

„_Don't let him fool you!"_, interfered Seifer in their negotiations. _„Shut up!"_, growled Ultimecia once again and Seifer went quiet. The alpha wolf thought for a while, before she nodded. _„Deal. And don't forget."_ She leaned to him and glared fierily at him. _„If you come ever back. I'll kill you myself!"_

„_Deal"_, said Cloud and nodded back. _„Fujin! Raijin! Take him and his delicacy out of here!"_, ordered Ultimecia and went away. The black and the other silver wolf, named Fujin and Raijin nodded and went ahead. Seifer looked perplexed at Cloud and Ultimecia. _„But...!"_

„_Seifer!"_, she growled admonishingly and Seifer knew she won't change her mind. Cloud motioned Aerith to climb on his back again, which she did. As she was on his back he followed Fujin and Raijin. He passed Seifer and grinned wickedly at him, while he just growled at him, but didn't do anything.

The two wolves lead them out of their wood. _„Here we are."_, said Raijin. _„Leave."_, growled Fujin and Cloud left immediately, he didn't want to stay there a second longer. _„With pleasure."_

„_Don't forget about the deal!"_, warned the black wolf one last time, before they went back.

Cloud ran away from that wood and soon arrived Junon. _There it is. _The wolf hide behind a wall to change back to a human. Aerith gave him his clothes again and once he covered his ears and tale under the cowl, they went through the town.

„Where to?"

„Up there." Cloud pointed to the upper plate of the town. _It looks a bit like Midgar...Here are Slums too...I didn't have the time to look around, as I arrived here, the last time..._, Cloud thought, as he looked around a bit. „This town kinda reminds me of Midgar...", said Aerith, after a moment of silence. „Yeah." They went to the elevator and got to the upper town. „We have to take a boat.", Cloud said as they went to the port.

„Did you took the boat to come here, too?", asked Aerith him curiously. „Of course. I sneaked in there."

„And now, we...?"

„Sneak in there, too.", finished Cloud her sentence and grinned at her. „How exciting!", exclaimed Aerith and jumped up and down. „Just stay close by my side."

„Will do!" Aerith did as she was told and came even closer to him and grinned up at him. Cloud just smiled back slightly and lead her to the boats. „Hmm, let's see..." The wolf looked around to search for a boat they can use. „Hey, how 'bout we just "borrow" a boat?"

„With borrow you mean...stealing?"

„Stealing's such a bad word.", he replied and grinned at Aerith. „That's even more exciting! Let's "borrow" one!" They went along the port and saw a giant boat. „Hm...maybe we don't have to borrow one. This thing will bring us to Costa Del Sol too."

„Then let's go in." Aerith was going to go ahead, but Cloud stopped her. „We have to sneak in. We could steal someone's clothes and pretend to be workers."

„That's a good idea!" They hide somewhere and mugged two people, put their clothes on and sneaked into boat and pretended to be sailors. The ride to Costa Del Sol lasted about 3 hours and Clouds plan worked out perfectly. „We did it!", exclaimed Aerith as they left the boat quickly and threw the sailors clothes away.

„Of course we did it."

„Let's look around!" Aerith ran ahead, but Cloud held her on her arm, stopping her. „Aerith, we don't have time for this." She turned to him and looked at him with her puppy-dog-eyes. „Please! PLEASE, Cloud!" Cloud looked away from her, quickly, but she wasn't through with him yet.

She leaned to him and continued to look at him with her puppy-dog-look, while Cloud just sighed. „Okay! Just stop looking at me like this!"

„Hurray!" Aerith cheered happily, took his hand and ran into the coastal town. The couple went through the town and looked around, while Cloud hoped she would finally go to a shady place. „Aerith...", he whined. „Let's go to a shady place, I'm melting!"

„Oh...right, you still wear you cowl...Sorry!" She quickly ran into a shadowy place, still holding Clouds hand and dragging him with her. „Better?"

„A bit..." Aerith looked around and saw a special shop. „Let's buy some bathing gear!"

„Huh?" The girl didn't said anything else and dragged him into the shop. About an hour later they left the shop again with bags in their hands, or in Clouds hands to be exact. „Let's change!"

„Change? Where? Everyone will see my ears and..."

„Don't worry about that! There has to be a place for just the both of us.", she said and winked at him, while he looked away from her again. „Oh! I know!" She went ahead and Cloud just followed her. „Where are you going?"

„We'll stay here for the rest of the day, so we have to search for a quarter, right? I've found something!", she said and pointed to the Inn of the town. „But...", began Cloud and tried to remember what Aerith told her the day before. „We don't have money...And you humans need some, right?"

„Of course we have money! How do you think I could buy the bathing gears? Mom gave me some.", she explained and entered the Inn, Cloud followed her suit. Aerith took a room with two beds and entered it with Cloud. „Alright!" Aerith took the bags and got her bikini out. „Wait outside! Or do you wanna change first?" The wolf just nodded.

„Okay. Hurry up then!", she said and left him alone. Cloud stared at the door for a while, before he undressed himself and put his black bathing trunks on, which had a picture of a silver wolf. Aerith picked it for him, she said it suits him, because of that picture. He cut a hole in that trunks for his tail.

In this time Aerith knocked on the door. „Cloud, can I come in?"

„Yeah." Aerith came in and examined him, while the wolf began to blush again and looked away to hide it. „Looks good.", she said and smiled sweetly at him. Cloud didn't said anything and went to the door. „Wait." He stopped immediately and turned around just to see black. „You might need it." Aerith threw his cowl on his face. Cloud put it on and was pushed outside by Aerith.

He waited outside and five minutes later she came outside with her pink bikini on. Cloud just stared at her wide-eyed and with a bright blush on his face. „Like what you see?", teased Aerith, while Cloud looked away from her, as she began to speak. „Shall we?" The blonde nodded and they made their way out to the beach.

„It looks beautiful!" Her eyes sparkled, as she saw this sight. The sky had a bright blue color and some fluffy looking clouds waft in the air and the blue water sparkled brightly at the sunlight. Cloud looked at her and fought back a smile. „It is."

„Let's have some fun!" The flower girl took his hand and dragged him with her, to a place where they could be alone. „Take it off! You're probably melting in there, aren't you?", said Aerith as she reassured herself that they're alone. Cloud looked around again and then took off his cowl and let it fall to the ground.

Aerith tied up her braid, took his hand again and ran with him to the ocean. „Let's swim!" The green eyed girl went into the water and squealed in surprise. „That's so cold!" She went deeper into the water, till it reached her hips and knelled down quickly, so that her whole body's underwater. „COLD!", she exclaimed and looked back at Cloud. „Come on in!", she called and waved at him happily.

Cloud went to her. He loved the cold water after being under the black cowl and almost melted. As his tail touched the water he stopped. „Come in!", repeated Aerith impatiently, but he didn't budge. „I don't want my fur to get wet.", he said and turned around again. Aerith pouted and swam to him, then grabbed his tail tightly and pulled him into the water. Cloud held onto her shoulders and pulled himself out of the water, panting slightly. „Was that really necessary?"

„I was." Cloud growled at her, while the flower girl just giggled. The wolf took her hand and dragged her deeper into the water, he wanted revenge! „No, no! Wait!", yelled Aerith and struggled in his grip. Cloud pushed her into the deeper part, while she held tightly on his arm and pulled herself back to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck tightly, while began to blush madly.

„What's wrong?", he asked, not daring to hug her back. She hugged him even tighter, which let Clouds heart skip a beat, as he felt her breasts pressed against him. „What's wrong?", he repeated and this time she looked up at him. The closeness of her face let his blush deepen. „Promise me not to laugh...", she whispered and looked at him frighteningly. „Promise." Aerith leaned to him and whispered something int his ear. „I can't swim..."

„But you swam pretty well over there.", he said and pointed to the flatter part of the water. „As long as I can stand, I can swim a tiny bit."

„Then I'll teach you." The flower girl hesitated for a moment, but agreed and the lesson began. She practiced till nightfall and finally learned how to swim, she even swam to the deeper part with Cloud. They lied in the sand, both of them completely exhausted. „That was fun, wasn't it, Cloud?" The wolf just nodded in agreement. Aerith sat up, her gazed glued to the sunset. „Aaaww, that's SO beautiful!", she exclaimed happily and turned back to Cloud. „Cloud, Cloud! Look at this!"

Cloud sat up too. „I know how a sunset looks like.", he said and smiled at her slightly while Aerith pouted. „Can't you even pretend to be excited?"

„Oh my god, I never saw something like this before!", he exclaimed, as he looked at the sunset and then back at her. „Like this?"

„Like this!", she agreed and smiled brightly at him. They continued to watch the sunset in silence. A few minuted later Aerith became sleepy and leaned her head on the wolfs shoulder. Cloud tensed up by the sudden contact, but then relaxed again as she came even closer to him. Aerith began to shiver, as the cool wind brushed her still wet skin, which didn't get unnoticed by Cloud. He took his cowl and lied it around her small shoulders, while she looked up at him and smiled. „Thanks."

„Don't mention it." They watched the sunset a bit longer, till Cloud began to speak again. „We should go to that...Inn or how this thing's called." Aerith yawned loudly in reply. „You're right. Let's go back."

They stood up and went back to the Inn. Once they changed into their sleeping clothes they lied down in their beds. „Night, Cloud.", yawned Aerith and snuggled under the covers. „Night.", replied Cloud before he fell asleep.

Aerith was the first who woke up the next morning. She changed and got ready for the day, before she went to Cloud and shook him lightly. „Cloud, wake up." The wolf just grunted and turned around again. Aerith pouted and shook him again. „Cloud!" He opened his eyes lazily and looked at her. „What is it?", he mumbled. „It's morning! Time to wake up! We have to get going!" Cloud rubbed his eyes and tried to register what she said.

„Go...? Go where?"

„Your home silly!", replied the girl and began to giggle. „Home...?" Aerith rolled her eyes playfully. „Gongaga. Did you forget where you live?" Now Clouds brain finally began to work and he could understand what she's talking about. „Oh...yeah...Let's go." Cloud stood up and stretched himself. „Get dressed. I'll go ahead.", said Aerith, before she left the room. The wolf yawned again. He couldn't sleep half of the night and didn't even know why...Maybe it was because he slept alone this time..._Stop thinking this!_, growled Cloud in his mind. Cloud changed his clothes and went out as well, but there's no sign of the flower girl.

_Where is she?_, wondered Cloud and sniffed the air, trying to find her scent. _Got it!_ He followed her scent, till he saw her at an ice cream shop. _How obvious..._The flower girl bought two ice creams and turned to him. She smiled brightly, as she saw him and ran to him. „I bought us some ice cream!", she exclaimed happily and gave him his. „Noticed.", he replied and took his ice cream. „It's not the best breakfast, but better than nothing!" Cloud nodded and began to lick his ice cream, Aerith followed him suit. „Let's go, hm?", asked Aerith, while Cloud nodded again and they made their way out of the town, to North Corel.

„What flavor is this?", asked Cloud as he continued to lick his ice cream. „It's chocolate and vanilla.", replied Aerith. „Do you like it?"

„Yeah, it's good." Once they finished their ice cream, Cloud changed back to a wolf. Aerith climbed on his back again and the wolf started to run. Cloud ran in full speed again, he didn't want the Turks to find them and jumped up over the mountains and arrived North Corel after a few hours, whereas a human need to walk at least 2 days. _Thank god, they didn't find us._, thought both of them as Cloud stopped in front of North Corel. „Cloud!" Aerith pulled on his fur, to get his attention. „I heard the Gold Saucer's in North Corel! Can we go there? Please!" _The Gold Saucer? What's that?_ The wolf just nodded, which caused Aerith to squeal in in excitement.

Cloud changed back to human, before they entered North Corel. _THIS is a town? It doesn't even look like a village..._, thought Cloud, as he looked around. „Oh, this way!", said Aerith and pointed to the ropeway. „I guess this thing will bring us there." They entered the ropeway and it brought them to the Gold Saucer. Aeriths eyes glittered, as she saw out of the window. There was a giant fireworks and the Gold Saucer by itself looked beautiful.

As the ropeway stopped Aerith ran out and looked around in awe. Cloud followed her and looked around too. He never saw something like this before. „Isn't this beautiful, Cloud?"

„It is...What is this?", he asked and pointed to the sky. „It's fireworks."

„Fire?" Cloud tilted his head in confusion. „...Kinda.", replied Aerith and began to giggle. „Let's go in." Aerith bought the tickets and they entered it. „Take off your cowl." Cloud looked at her in shock. „Are you crazy?"

„Don't worry! Look around! Everyone wear faked animal ears and tails." Cloud looked around and it's really true! „That's weird..."

„No, that's fun!" The blonde looked back at her and his eyes widened, as he saw her wearing faked wolf ears and even a faked tail. „Where...?"

„Over there.", she replied and pointed to a stall, where everyone can get those accessory. The wolf sighed in defeat and took his cowl off. Aerith put it into his bag and went away, Cloud followed her suit. Aerith went straight to the Wonder Square. „Hey you!", called a weird, high voice them. They turned around and saw a black stuffed cat running towards them. „Hello!", he greeted and waved at them. „Aaaawww! How cute!", exclaimed Aerith and picked him up, to hug him.

„Careful! Or you'll squeeze out my wadding outta me!" Aerith loosened her grip immediately. „Sorry, but you're SO cute!" Cloud couldn't help, but to get a bit jealous of this stuffed cat. „I'm Cait Sith. Who are you?"

„I'm Aerith.", she replied and looked to Cloud. „And this grumpy looking guy is Cloud." _Grumpy?_, thought Cloud and raised an eyebrow. „Nice to meet you! Did you see a giant Mog around here?" the flower girl looked around. „Oh, you mean this?", she asked and pointed to the mog in the crowed. „Yeah, this!" They approached the Mog and Cait Sith jumped off Aeriths arms and then climbed on the Mogs back.

„Thanks for helping me! Let me tell you a fortune!"

„No thanks.", replied Cloud. „Yes!", exclaimed Aerith at the same time. „How about a love fortune for you two?", suggested the stuffed cat, while Cloud looked at him in shock and with a bright blush on his face. „Okay!", agreed Aerith, while Cait Sith began to dance, before he revealed a piece of paper. „OH!"

„What? What is it?", asked Aerith excitedly. „Looks good!", replied Cait Sith, while Clouds eyes widened. „Aeriths star and Clouds star! You're perfect for each other and you'll have a great future! Congrats!" Cloud looked at him in complete shock, his mind yelled _"That's impossible!"_, while that little part in him cheered. „Wow.", was all Aerith managed to say.

„Well, have fun in the Gold Saucer!", said Cait Sith, before the Mog went away. The flower girl noticed Clouds uneasiness and got the sudden urge to tease him. „Well.", she began and turned to him, her arms clasped behind her back. „Looks like we're perfect for each other." Clouds blush deepened and he turned away from her to hide it, while Aerith giggled. „Let's get going, Cloud." Aerith took his arm and dragged him with her.

They looked around the whole Gold Saucer till nightfall. _We would've been already in Gongaga if this damn amusement park wouldn't be here..._, thought Cloud after a perceived 100th ride on something. „Aerith, let's get going. Gongaga's near."

„Just a sec!", called Aerith back, as she played another game. „I'm going to crack the high score!" Cloud didn't understand what she's doing, what's so funny, or what she's talking about, but he let her have her fun and waited for her to get ready. A few hours passed and they tried every ride and every game and also every food and Aerith was finally satisfied. „What time is it?", yawned Aerith, as she approached him, while Cloud shrugged. „I don't know..."

Cloud never thought about "what time it is", for him it was just bedtime. „However, let's go to bed! I heard there's a hotel."

„A what?", asked Cloud and raised an eyebrow. „An Inn. Like the one in Costa Del Sol."

„Oh." Aerith went ahead to the Ghost Hotel, while Cloud followed her suit. Because she didn't earn enough GP, Aerith had to take a room with one bed. Once they entered the room Cloud finally noticed it. „I'm sorry, but I didn't have enough GP." Cloud looked at her in confusion. „What the hell's GP?"

„It's like Gil.", replied Aerith, while Cloud tilted his head. „The money. It's called Gil and here's special money called GP."

„Oh..." There was a moment of silence before Cloud spoke again. „Hey Aerith?", he began, as the flower girl pulled their sleeping clothes out of the bag. „Yes?" Cloud remained silent for a while, while she looked at him. „It's...It's nothing..."

„Come on! You can tell me!"

„I just...think that...wolf ears...suit you..." He mumbled the last part, but Aerith heard him clearly. „Thanks!" She smiled brightly at him and gave him his clothes. They changed and Aerith suddenly remembered something and took her cellphone out of her bag. Cloud saw it and came closer to Aerith and looked at the phone in interest. „What's that?"

„It's a cellphone."

„...A cell?"

„A phone. You can call people with this." The wolf looked at her in confusion. „I'll show you.", she giggled and dialed a number. Cloud heard a weird noise from the phone, and pricked up. „Hello?" Then Elmyras voice was heard and Cloud jumped out of surprise and hide behind Aerith. „Hey, mom, it's me. Sorry, for not calling you sooner..."

„It's okay, dear. But I got really worried about you two. Where are you?", asked Elmyra worried, while Cloud looked over Aeriths shoulder to the phone, and stared at it in confusion. „We're in the Gold Saucer now. We're almost there."

„Oh. That was really fast."

„Yeah, Cloud can run really fast!", she giggled, Elmyra joined her laughter. „Is Cloud with you now?", asked Elmyra, after a while. „Yes, he's hiding behind me." The women began to laugh again, while Cloud growled quietly. „I'm not!"

„And what are you doing behind me?"

„That thing just startled me! That's all!"

„Of course!", replied Aerith, who's still giggling. „How come we can hear her? She's still in Midgar isn't she? Is she in there or...?" Aerith giggled once more and explained him this. Cloud didn't really understand what she said, but still tried to get the point of these "cellphones". The only point he got in them is the fact that they can talk with people who are very far away. He wasn't interested in the other functions, which are called video or photos. They both talked with Elmyra for a few minutes, before Aerith ended the call and sat down on the bed.

„Do you want me to sleep on the ground?, asked Cloud hesitantly. „Of course not! I can't let you sleep down there! I mean...it's too cold.", she said and looked at her lap, her bangs covered her red face. „Then you want me to sleep in there...with you?" Aerith nodded at him and smiled teasingly.

„There's no other choice, is it?"

„...Good point." He felt kinda relieved that she insisted to let him sleep with her, even though, it STILL felt wrong to him, but on the same time he thought: _Yeah, Aerith wants to sleep with me! With ME! For the third time now! _He shook his head to clear his thoughts and slowly lied down beside her.

The wolf gulped heavily, as their arms and legs touched, the bed wasn't as big as he hoped...„Good night, Cloud."

„...Night..." Aerith fell fast asleep, while Cloud remained awake, out of his nervousness. The blonde jumped, as he felt her snuggling against him and he couldn't help but somehow like it. That's when he fell asleep as well.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile...<p>

„They escaped and it's all your fault!", yelled Elena at Reno. „Relax, we'll find 'em.", replied Reno calmly. „No, Reno, I WON'T relax!"

„Calm down, Elena. I'm sure Tseng or Reeve found them.", said Rude as calm as Reno. Then the red haireds phone rang. „Oh, speaking of the devil...", he said, as he saw the callers ID. „You talk with him." He gave Elena his phone, who picked up. „Elena here."

„It's Reeve. I found them."

„You found them? Where are they?"

„And how was he able to find 'em?", asked Reno, who got a slap on his head from Elena. „Cait Sith found them. They're in the Gold Saucer. By the way, the wolf isn't that dangerous, as you think.", Reeve informed. „Thanks for your help, Sir.", said Elena respectful. „No problem." The blonde woman ended the call. „Reno, let's got to the Gold Saucer!"

„Roger that...", he sighed and flied them all to the North Corel. „Oh, look at the time! It's home time!"

„RENO!"

„I'm just kiddin' Elena, chill." , he said and rolled his eyes in annoyance.

They arrived the Gold Saucer in the late night. „Let's search for them tomorrow...", yawned Reno. „To let them escape again? No way.", said Elena, sternly. „Then let's meet Reeves little toy.", suggested Reno and started to walk away. „It's not a toy, it's a robot!", corrected Elena, while Reno just shrugged. „Whatever." Elena and Rude followed him to the Wonder Square, where Cait Sith was.

„Cait Sith, where are they?", asked Rude the stuffed cat. „They are..." He looked around. „...Were...here a few hours ago..."

„You damn thing! You had to follow them!", yelled Reno angrily. „Sorry, but I have a few other things to do!"

„Let's look around. Maybe they still walk around.", suggested Rude, while the other Turks nodded in agreement and headed out. They searched everywhere, but couldn't find them. The Turks met at the Ghost Hotel. „Let's continue tomorrow.", said Rude, Elena and Reno agreed again and took a room to rest.

* * *

><p>This time, Cloud was the first who woke up. He looked sleepily to his right and saw Aerith hugged him tightly. Clouds heart skipped a beat or two and the first thought that came in his mind was to stand up and get ready, so that she can't tease him again, eh, to finally arrive Gongaga!<p>

He gently pushed her away from him, even though, he wanted to stay like this for a bit longer. The wolf stood up and quickly dressed, then, once he finished everything, he went to Aerith to wake her up. „Aerith, wake up. We have to get going." Aerith opened her eyes and yawned. „Okay..." She got up and went to her clothes. „Hey, can you give me some...money for food?", he asked, unsure if he should use the word GP or Gil.

„Sure." She gave him some and Cloud went to the door. „Wait here.", he said, before he closed the door behind him, while Aerith got ready for the day. Once Cloud bought something to eat, he headed back to the Ghost Hotel, just to ran into the Turks arms. „There you are!", exclaimed Reno.

Clouds eyes widened, as he saw them. _I hope they didn't find her..._„Where's the girl?", asked Rude and Cloud almost sighed in relieve.

„Not here.", he replied, but the Turks weren't convinced. „We're not dump!"

„I think you are.", replied Cloud and smirked slightly. „Alright, that's it!" Reno took his weapon and ran towards him, while the wolf didn't budge. As Reno was close enough, the blonde jumped up, landed with one foot on Renos head and jumped once again, which caused Reno to fall face first to the ground.

Cloud ran past Elena and Rude, who failed to hold him back and ran into the room he shared with the flower girl. He locked the door and ran to her. „Is something wrong?, asked Aerith, as she saw Cloud hurriedly packed their things into her bag. „These weird guys are here!", he replied, as he gave her the bag. „The Turks?" Then they heard a loud bang on the door.

The Turks tried to break open the door. Cloud just nodded and lifted her up in his arms, while Aerith squealed in surprise and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. Cloud blushed furiously, as he realized their position, but ignored it. It's not the time to be embarrassed!

He opened the door and stepped aside as the Turks fell into the room. The wolf ran outside, back to the ropeway, while the Turks followed them. Cloud and Aerith entered the ropeway quickly, before it brought them back to North Corel. They sighed in relieve, as they lose the Turks. „That was close...", sighed Aerith and leaned her head on Clouds shoulder, while Cloud finally realized that she's still in his arms and sat on his lap.

The blonde remained silent and looked away from her to hide his blush, while Aerith giggled immediately, as she noticed his red face. The flower girl leaned to him and kissed Cloud on his hot cheek. „Thanks for carying me.", she said and smiled brightly at him, while Clouds blush deepened. „Don't mention it...", he mumbled back, as he tried to calm himself down.

A few minutes later they arrived North Corel and Cloud quickly put his cowl on, to cover his ears and tail again. „Let's go. We need to go to the forest. There are some friends of mine. They will help us to detain the...Turks, you said?" Aerith nodded. „Then let's go." They left North Corel and went into the wood.

„They must be near. I can smell them.", said Cloud as he lead the way. He stopped though, as he noticed a strange smell. _Who's this?_ Then a giant, puple wolf appeared in front of them. _„Stop."_, he said. His voice was deep and calm, but Cloud didn't recognized him. He never saw him, or a purple wolf in general, before. _„What are you doing here?"_

„_Who are you?"_

**A.N.** A cliffhanger! I never had a cliffhanger before, that's why I wanted it so badly^^ This pack here, the friends of Cloud, weren't planned, but then I got inspired! If you want you can try to guess who's this. I don't know if there's another guy with purple hair, and if not, you'll immediately know who he is^^ I'm sorry for the late update, but I made a longer chappy to make it up to you guys^^ Hope you like it.

Please review! :3


	6. Geostigma

**A.N.** I actually finished this chappy a few weeks ago, but a friend of mine told me that there are a lot of mistakes and I had to rewrite it -.-'' Well now she said that it's ok and I can upload it. I hope that this chappy's not as bad as she said v.v''

Normal POV

„talking"

_Clouds/Aeriths thoughts_

„_Wolf language"_

_**voices of the lifestream**_

**Beauty and the Beast**

Chapter 6: Geostigma

„_Who are you?"_, asked Cloud the stranger confused. The wolf in front of them had dark purple fur and also purple eyes. Cloud saw every fur color by now, but he never saw a purple wolf before. _„Caius!"_, called an extremely hyper female voice. Then a light brown wolf appeared and ran around the purple wolf. _„Let's go back!"_ The male wolf growled in annoyance and silently pointed with his snout to the intruders.

This time Cloud recognized the scent. The female wolf looked at Cloud and suddenly squealed. Then she ran to him and tackled Cloud to the ground and licked his face. „Selphie! Calm down!", said Cloud and pushed her off of him. _„Cloooouuuddyy! I can't believe it! I thought you're never going to visit us again!"_

„_Well, I did, and stop calling me Cloudy!"_ Cloud got up and ignored the girls giggles. _„Who's this?"_, asked Cloud and pointed to the male wolf. _„His name's Caius. He's a new member."_ Caius approached them. _„You know them?"_, he asked, while Selphie nodded. _„He's a friend. But...who's this?"_, she asked an looked at Aerith and then back to Cloud. _„Your consort?"_ The brown wolf grinned teasingly at him, while Cloud hit his forehead. _„No, she's NOT my consort!"_, he growled annoyingly. _„Where's Cid?"_

„_Follow me."_ Selphie went away, Caius, Cloud and Aerith followed her. „Who are they?", asked Aerith in a whisper. „The brown one is Selphie and the purple one is Caius. He's a new member, that's why I was so confused before."

„Oh." Soon they arrived the pack of this wood. „Cloud!", yelled a yellow one and ran to him. Aerith remained silent, she didn't want to disturb their chit chat and she couldn't understand anything anyway. She examined the pack and also noticed that everyone's in their wolf shape. _I guess they want to scare away the humans..._, she thought and her eyes fell on the yellow wolf, who approached them. He had a weird muster on his face. She followed Cloud to the alphas, once they ended their conversation.

„_Shut up, she's not my consort!"_, protested Cloud, as everyone gave them their blessings. „These guys are friends of my pack.", said Cloud to the little human girl. _„She can't understand us? I thought she's your consort!"_, said a male, brown wolf and grinned at him. _„Irvine! I told you she's NOT my consort!"_, growled Cloud in annoyance. _„Just leave him alone and let him talk."_, said another yellow, female wolf. _„Thanks, Quistis."_, said Cloud, while she just smiled at him.

„Well...This is Aerith.", said the blonde and pushed her gently to the pack, that gathered around them. „...Hello.", she said to them a bit nervously, while the wolves bowed their heads. „Aerith, these guys are Zell..." He pointed to the yellow wolf with the black muster on his face. „...Quistis..." Then to the other yellow, female wolf. „...and Elfe." To the last one, a little, brown, female wolf.

„And these two..." He pointed to the alphas. The male one had light brown fur and the female one black fur. „...are the alphas. Cid and Edea." Aerith bowed her head respectfully. „Nice to meet you."

„_Nice girl you have, Cloud. You don't want her, right? How about I—?"_ Cloud silenced Zell with a low growl. _„What brings you here, Cloud?"_, asked Edea and the blonde turned his attention back to the alphas. _„I need your help. There are some guys, who track us. Can you give us some time to __escape?"_ Cid nodded. _„Sure."_

„_They have weird clothes...black ones. Um, two guys and a girl. The first one has red hair, the other wears black glasses and the girl's blonde. Their clothes look alike, you can't miss them."_ The wolves nodded, but then Caius fell to the ground. Everyone ran to him. _„What's wrong?"_, asked Cloud the others. _„He's sick. He got Geostigma..."_, explained Edea. Aerith knelled down next to him and caressed him gently on his head. „Where does it hurt?" Caius had his eyes tightly shut and whined weakly.

„His back.", translated Cloud, while Aerith lied a hand on his back. She noticed that he had some icky, black liquid on his back. „What's that?"

„It's a disease. It's called Geostigma.", explained Cloud. „Geostigma..."

„It's a new disease. No one knows the cause..." After a short pause Aerith began to talk again. „How does it feel now?" Caius whined again and Cloud translated. „He said it's a bit better."

„Hmm..." Suddenly Elfe got weaker, too. „Don't tell me Elfe has Geostigma too?", asked Cloud in shock,while the other wolves nodded. „Where?" Elfe went to Aerith and pointed with her snout to her shoulder. The flower girl lied her free hand on her shoulder. „Sorry...I can't do anything more...", apologized Aerith, but Elfe shook her head. „They said it's alright. They said you're doing enough for them to feel better. What are you doing to them, Aerith?", asked Cloud confused.

„Nothing.", replied the flower girl and smiled at him innocently, before she turned to the wolves. „Will you be alright?" Caius smiled and nodded and Elfe licked her face. „They'll be alright..." _I hope so..._, added Cloud in his mind and gave Aerith something to get the liquid off her hands.

„_We have to go now."_, said Cloud to the pack, while Cid and Edea nodded. _„Say the others hi from us."_, said Zell, while Cloud nodded. _„Sure."_ And then the couple went away. Before they left the wood, Cloud changed back to a wolf. Aerith climbed on his back again and the wolf began to run.

* * *

><p>During her ride, Aerith ate what Cloud bought for them. The way from North Corel to Gongaga wasn't really long, they arrived Clouds home withing a few hours. Cloud changed back to a human, as they entered the wood. „Here." Aerith gave him the rest of the food. „Thanks, I'm starving..." Cloud took it and began to eat. Once they both finished eating and went deeper into the wood, Cloud noticed a really familiar scent.<p>

Just in this moment someone jumped off a tree and landed in front of them. Aerith squealed in surprise and hide behind Cloud. The stranger stood up. It was a woman with strawberry blonde hair and piercing, cold blue eyes. „Cloud.", she said calmly and nodded in his direction. „Lightning.", replied Cloud and nodded back. „So you came back.", said Lightning and lied a hand on her hip.

„Yeah." The pink haired girl noticed Aerith and went to her. Aerith didn't know what to do, as the woman examined her from head to toe. „...A friend of yours?", asked Lightning and looked back at Cloud, who nodded. „She's a human..."

„I know that." They went quiet for a while, before Lightning shrugged. „Whatever.", she said turned around and went away, Cloud and Aerith followed her. „Aren't you going to introduce yourself to her?", asked Cloud the pink haired girl, who looked over her shoulder to Aerith. „I'm Lightning."

„I'm Aerith." Lightning looked ahead again. „Nice to meet you.", she said, which sounded like she doesn't even care about her at all.

Now that Aerith looked closely at her, she noticed her pink furred wolf ears and tail. Her tail had a light pink, almost white tip, and both her ears too. They looked just as fluffy as Clouds and Aerith got the urge to touch them. The flower girl also examined her clothes. It looks like a soldier uniform...„Why is she going with you anyway?", asked Lightning after a short silence. „Because...", began Cloud. „Because she..." _...Looks like an angel and I didn't want to leave her..._, he thought, but quickly dismissed these thoughts again. „Because she never saw anything of the world but Midgar. I wanted to show her around the planet..."

„And you bring her to our home?"

„She knows everything about us by now. I don't see a problem for bringing her here." Lightning stopped and turned to them. „She could tell other humans where our home is. You know how humans are. They're haunting us just for our fur."

„I would never do this!", said Aerith and looked at the woman pleadingly. „Believe me..." Lightning examined her expression, searching for any lies, but found none. „You don't look like you're lying...Okay, I'll believe you. For now. But what about Leon? He'll freak out when he's going to see her."

„Don't worry about that. I'm sure Rinoa is on my side."

„She's always on your side.", agreed Lightning. Then, another woman appeared out of nowhere,. She had medium-length, black hair, black wolf attributes, light brown eyes and wore black clothes. „Clooooouuuuuud!", exclaimed the girl and tackled Cloud in a hug. „You're back!"

„Looks like it...", replied Cloud and looked at Aerith nervously, hoping she won't get the wrong idea..._Is she his girlfriend?_, wondered Aerith, as she looked at them. The black wolf let Cloud go and looked at him sternly, her hands leaned on her hips. „Where have you been?"

„That's none of your business.", he replied and ignored her glare. Then she looked at Aerith in slight shock. „What's a human doing here?", she yelled and glared at Aerith. „I—I...", began Aerith nervously, not used to get such cold glares, but was interrupted by Cloud. „I brought her here. Her name's Aerith. Aerith, this is Tifa. One of the new members I told you about."

„Nice to meet you Tifa.", said Aerith and smiled sweetly at her, while Tifa looked at her suspiciously, but nodded. „Same here...", she replied, but it sounded like "Stay away from me, or I'll kill you!"

„L-let's get going.", said Aerith and smiled nervously at the wolves. Cloud turned to a bush and sighed. „Zack, show yourself." Then a black, spiky haired man came out of the bush. Aerith noticed that he's a black wolf too. „Yo, Cloudy-boy! I knew you'll come back to us!", he said and hit his back playfully, before he noticed Aerith. „Helloooo~", he said and went to her. „And who are you?" Zacks voice became more flirtatious, which let Cloud growl quietly.

„I'm Aerith.", she replied and smiled at him. „The heaven just called, they're missing an angel." Cloud, Tifa and Lightning sighed in annoyance at Zacks lame chat-up line. „I'm Zack, by the way."

„Nice to meet you."

„So, what is a little lady like you doing in a wood like this?"

„I..." Aerith couldn't finish her sentence as Cloud went in between them. „She belongs to me!", he growled at Zack. „I mean..." Cloud searched for another answer, but Zack interrupted him. „I know what ya mean, bud." Zack grinned knowingly at his best friend, who glared at him. He knew exactly what Cloud meant. "Stay away from her! She's mine!" Cloud had to maintain control to not kill him right now and tried to prevent himself to growl louder. „Guys, let's go back! You can kill each other another time!", said Lightning and took the lead, while the others followed her quietly.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later they arrived the center of the wood, the place where Clouds pack lived. Aerith looked at the wood glade in awe. This part of the wood looked really beautiful! There were a few flowers that Aerith had never seen before, the deciduous trees had bright, grass green leaves on their long twigs and the grass looked as fresh as if it grew recently. The sun rays shined through the leaves and let everything glitter. „Wow!", exclaimed Aerith, as she examined her surroundings with glittery eyes.<p>

Tifa and Lightning looked at Aerith in slight shock. They never saw a human that loved the nature as much as them before. Aeriths eyes wandered to the side of the wood glade where giant tents were. It looked like a normal camp. They all went to the camp, in this moment left a little girl one of the big the tents. As she saw Cloud she ran to him excitedly and tackled him in a tight hug. „Cloud, you're back!"

„Yeah.", he replied and patted her head. Then the little girl looked at the other wolves. „Welcome back!", she said to everyone, before er eyes met the flower girls ones. The little girl ran to her. „Who are you?" Aerith knelled down and smiled at her gently. „I'm Aerith." The little girl hugged her. „I'm Marlene!" The wolves eyes widened slightly. Marlene never hugs some random people. It's almost like she can sense who's good or bad.

„Where are the others?", asked Lightning the little girl and looked around. „They're haunting."

„Everyone?", asked Zack, while Marlene giggled. „Of course not! Serah, Noel and Lucrecia stayed here." _That girl and...Lucrecia must be the new ones too..._, mused Aerith. Then named wolves left the same tent, where Marlene was in minutes ago. The man, who came out at first, had short, black hair and gentle blue eyes, the girl behind him looked exactly like Lightning, but friendlier and cheerier. Her strawberry blonde hair was tied in a ponytail on her left side and hung over her shoulder.

And the last one was a woman with brown hair, which is tied in a ponytail and brown eyes. Their eyes widened, as they saw Aerith. „A human?"

„Yes, Noel, it's a human. But look. Marlene likes her! She must be a friend.", said Serah and went to her. „Hi, I'm Serah. And who are you?"

„I'm Aerith. Are you...Lightnings sister?"

„I am. It's really obvious isn't it?" Serah and Aerith began to giggle. „This is Noel and this is Lucrecia.", added Serah and pointed to them. „Nice to meet you all.", said Aerith and smiled at them. Then Tifa ran to Lucrecia. „How is he?" Lucrecia lowered her eyes. „He's still in pain. I don't know what to do anymore..."

„C-can I help?", asked Aerith them. „I don't think that a human can do anything to help us...", said Tifa sadly, it wasn't meant as an insult. „Please, let me take a look..."

„Let's try it.", said Serah and dragged her into the tent, while the others followed them. In the tent was a sleeping bag with a little brown wolf in it. „This is Denzel...he has Geostigma...", informed Lucrecia. „He's so weak, he barely can stay in his human shape.", said Serah, while Aerith hummed and knelled down next to the little wolf. „Denzel?" She called him with a gentle voice, while he opened his ocean blue eyes and looked at her. „Can you change?" The wolf whined weakly and Cloud translated again. „He doesn't know."

„Can you try?" He nodded and a moment later laid a little, about ten year old, boy there. Aerith could clearly see the Geostigma on his forehead and lied a hand on it. She winced slightly, as she felt the strange black liquid. „How does it feel?" Denzel was silent, before he spoke. „Better."

„What are you doing?", said Tifa surprised. The last time Denzel felt better was a few months ago. „Nothing.", she replied and smiled at everyone innocently. „It feels warm.", said Denzel and closed his eyes again.

The flower girl began to caress his forehead gently. She looked at the black liquid in disgust, but hide it. _This needs to come off..._, she thought and looked to the wolves. „Do you have a rag?"

„Aerith, it's useless...We already tried to wash it off, minutes ago...", said Noel sadly, while Aerith frowned. Cloud went to her and gave her a rag. „Still...this needs to come off of her hands.", he said and cleaned Aeriths hands. _There has to be a way to heal them..._, thought Aerith frustrated, before she turned to the little boy again. „Denzel you should sleep, okay? And please call me if it hurts again."

Denzel nodded and snuggled into the sleeping bag, while Aerith and the other wolves left the tent again and saw that the pack returned. The pack looked at Aerith in shock. „What the hell's a human doing here?", yelled a grumpy-looking man, with short brown hair, blue eyes and a scar across his face, angrily.

„This is Aerith.", said Serah and stood in front of the flower girl protectively. „I don't care what her name is! I asked what she's doing here!", growled the man. „Leon, don't be so rude!", said a woman with medium-length black hair, also black wolf attributes and gentle brown eyes. „Don't worry! She won't tell anyone about us!", said Serah.

„That's what she told us.", retorted Lightning, who gained a glare by Serah and Cloud. „She's Clouds consort.", said Zack with a wide grin. „ZACK!", yelled Cloud and hit him hard on his head. „Oh, in that case...", said the black haired woman and went to Aerith. „I'm Rinoa and this guy over there is Leon. Nice to meet you..."

„Aerith."

„Aerith!", repeated Rinoa and introduced the pack to her, while Leon, glared at Rinoa for being ignored. „I know you guys. Cloud told me some things about you. But he didn't tell me anything about the new members...", said Aerith, as she heard all the familiar names again. Then Cloud approached her. „Well, you know Tifa, Lucrecia, Marlene and Denzel already. These guys are the other new members. ", said Cloud and pointed to them.

A girl with short black hair approached her and ran around her. „Heya! I'm the great Yuffie! Nice to meet you!"

„The great Yuffie, huh?" Aerith began to giggle at the title she gave herself. „The GREAT great Yuffie. But for you I'm just Yuffie."

„Nice to meet you, Yuffie." Lucrecia went to a grumpy-looking man, who had long black hair, and glowing red eyes. He looked kinda scary to Aerith, but Lucrecia seems to like him...She took his arm and dragged him to her. „This is Vincent.", introduced Lucrecia, while Vincent just nodded in Aeriths direction. The flower girl nodded back and smiled at him. „Nice to meet you." Yuna and Rikku dragged another new member to her.

It was a woman with dark gray hair and ruby red eyes. „This is Paine!", said Rikku and pushed her to Aerith. „That's enough, Rikku!", said Paine and glared at her, while she just giggled. Leon grunted to gain everyone's attention again. „I want her to leave right now!"

„No! She's Clouds consort! She'll stay!", protested Rinoa. „Wait! She's not my consort!", said Cloud, but no one paid him any attention. Aerith couldn't help but feel hurt, whenever Cloud said that she's not his consort...„You can't trust humans! You know that!", growled Leon, while Rinoa went silent for a while. „I know that! But I know that she's different! Just give her a chance, Squall!"

„It's Leon and still no." Everyone gathered around Leon and begged him to give her a chance. Leon growled at everyone to silence them and went to the flower girl. He looked her over silently, before he spoke. „If you betray us...I'll kill you."

„I won't betray you...I promise!"

„We'll see.", were his last words before he entered his own tent. The pack cheered and welcomed Aerith once again. Then Rinoa went to Cloud and hugged him tightly. „I'm glad you came back to us, Cloud." The blonde haired man hugged her back. „I can't let you all down...aunt Rinoa..." Aerith looked at them in shock. „Aunt?"

„Yeah, aunt.", replied Zack. „Rinoa is the sister of Clouds mother."

„But he told me he has no family...", said Aerith and looked a bit hurt at him. She couldn't believe that Cloud lied to her. „He didn't even know it himself.", said Tifa. „Rinoa told him this a few weeks ago."

* * *

><p>~Flashback~<p>

Rinoa went to Cloud, her eyes showed a tinge of worry. „Cloud, can I talk with you?" The blonde haired man turned to her. „Of course. What's up?"

„It's about your mother." Clouds eyes widened slightly. „What's about her?

„Well...she wasn't your last relative."

„That means...I still have a family? Like...aunt and cousin and something like this?" Rinoa nodded and before Cloud could ask her who it is she began to speak again. „I'm your aunt." Clouds eyes widened in shock. „I'm sorry, I didn't want to hide it from you or something...I just waited for the right moment..." The white-gray wolf glared at her, which surprised Rinoa. „And you think now, fourteen years later, is the right moment?"

„I'm sor—"

„No!", he yelled and earned everyone's attention. „Save it!" Cloud turned away from the pack and went away. „I'm leaving!"

„But Cloud—!", tried Rinoa, but Cloud interrupted her. „No buts! Farewell!"

„But Cloud, we need you!", said Tifa but the blonde man ignored everyone and continued to walk away.

~Flashback end~

* * *

><p>Aerith remained quiet and just looked at Cloud and Rinoa. <em>He really overreacted...<em>, thought Aerith and shook her head slightly. „Hey!", said Aerith suddenly and turned to the wolves around her. „Why do you need him anyway?" Another black haired girl, named Garnet, approached her and lied a hand on her shoulder. „It's because of our enemies. Cloud's the strongest wolf around, you know."

„Enemies...you mean the humans?"

„No.", said Lightning. „The Nibelheim wolves. They want to take our territory away from us. And they're really strong. We don't stand a chance to fight them without Cloud." Aerith felt kind of bad for wanting Cloud all for herself. She wanted to bring him round to stay with her in Midgar and didn't thought if his family need him. She hated to be selfish...„But Leon looks strong, too..."

„He IS strong, but not as strong as Cloud.", said Fang. „You know, it's because of our fur color.", informed Vanille, while Aerith looked at her curiously. „What has your fur color to do with this?"

„Well...", began Yuna, who approached them too. „There are some wolves that can use magic. These wolves are the silver and white ones. The gray ones, like Paine, can use a teeny tiny bit magic too, but not as much and good as these two kinds. Our enemies are silver. And there are four of them! I mean, okay, we have a gray and two silver wolves too, but if you want to defeat these Nibelheim wolves you need at least one white member."

„Even though Cloud has gray parts, he can use the strongest magic, like every pure white polar wolf. And he was the one who killed the female alpha of these Nibelheim wolves.", added Lightning. „But he didn't use magic at all. We don't know if he did it on purpose, or if he didn't even know that he can use magic, but that's not important. The fact is that he killed her." The wolves agreed and Aerith was kinda surprised by their thinking. Suddenly the whole pack looked to the tent where Denzel is. Aerith looked there too and saw the little boy left the tent, in human shape and dressed.

„Denzel, go back to bed.", said the silver wolf, Nora, worried. „But I feel a lot better now.", said Denzel and went to the flower girl. „What was your name again?", he asked, while Aerith knelled down. „I'm Aerith." The boy pulled Aerith into a hug. „Thank you, Aerith. I don't know what you did, but thanks to you I feel better." Aerith giggled and hugged him back. „You're welcome."

She pushed him away from her gently and examined his forehead. „It doesn't hurt anymore?"

„Nope.", replied Denzel and smiled at her, while Aerith smiled back. _I have to try it...This liquid needs to come off!_ „Is here a...river or something like this near? I want to see if we really aren't be able to wash this stuff off."

„Over there.", said Garnet and pointed somewhere. „I..."

„I take her there.", said Hope and interrupted Cloud, who wanted to offer her the same. „Um, thanks Hope.", said Aerith and smiled at him brightly, before she looked to Cloud and saw his disappointed expression. „Let's go, Denzel." Aerith held her hand out to the boy, who took it and went ahead. Hope was about to follow them, but Cloud held him back. „Take care of her or else...", he said in a threatening voice, while Hope nodded. „Sure thing.", the silver haired man replied, past him and followed Denzel and Aerith to the river, while the pack finally began to eat. As they arrived the river Hope gave the flower girl some rags. „Here."

„Thanks.", said Aerith and made the rag wet, before she cleaned Denzels forehead, while Hope knelled down, too, to catch some fish. „Say Hope, are you in love?", asked the flower girl all of a sudden, which caused Hope to jump in surprise and to fall into the river. Hope got out of the water and heard Aerith an Denzel laughing. „Stop laughing!", he growled in mock anger, but they continued to laugh. „So you ARE in love! Is it Lightning?"

Hope jumped again in surprise and, once again, fell into the river, while the flower girl and the boy laughed again. Hope got out of the water and glared at the human girl. „It IS Lightning, right?" Before the silver wolf could reply, he felt something moving in his shirt. It was a fish and Hope tried to get it out of his shirt, but failed. Then Aerith took his collar and took the fish out, while smiling brightly at him. Hope looked away from her. „How do you now?", he mumbled, his cheeks showed a tinge of red. „I saw it."

„What did you see?"

„You looked at her so lovey-dovey like.", she said teasingly, while Hope blushed even more. „I didn't...!"

„You did.", said Aerith and Denzel in a sing-song like tone. „Whatever...", sighed Hope and sat down next to them. „I don't think she feels the same for me anyway."

„I'm sure she does feel the same about you. Just believe in it.", said Aerith to motivate him a bit, while Hope was about to bite into the struggling fish. „Wait!" Hope stopped and looked at Aerith questioningly. „I...I know a better way to eat it. Just wait a moment okay?" Hope just nodded quietly and lied the fish on his lap, while Aerith cleaned Denzels forehead again. _Hmm..._Aerith became a bit irritated, because the liquid didn't want to come off. _What is this?_, wondered Aerith and examined it again. „It's still there, isn't it?", asked Denzel monotonously, while Aerith nodded. „Aerith? Will I die?" The flower girls eyes widened at this question. „No, of course not! What makes you think that?"

„I heard that everyone who had this disease died.", said the boy sadly and looked to the ground. „I don't know what to do anymore...I don't want to die..." Suddenly Denzel felt a painful sting on his forehead and held it tightly. „What's wrong?", asked Aerith him worriedly. „It hurts! It hurts so much!" Aerith held his forehead, too and felt that there's a bit more of this liquid than before on his forehead.

„Let's take him back!", suggested Hope, but the flower girl shook her head. „No, just give me a sec!" Once she said this Denzel began to relax and sighed. „Better?" The little wolf nodded and leaned on her. „Denzel can you tell me how you got this disease?" He hesitated for a moment and Aerith added quickly:„You don't have to, if..."

„It's okay. I'll tell you." The grown-ups pricked up, as Denzel began to talk, while Aerith continued to clean his forehead. „I once lived in Mideel.", he began and snuggled a bit closer to her. „My father was a wolf and my mother was human. The pack of my father didn't want to except the fact that a human and a wolf were together and wanted to kill us. I was five as they first attacked. They got mom, but dad and I could escape, even though I didn't want to leave mom behind."

„So your...father just took you and fled with you without your mother?", asked Aerith a bit shocked, while Denzel shook his head. „No, he didn't want to go either. Mom said she'll give us time to escape..." Hope and Aerith remained quiet and listened to his story.

„However, they found us in Fort Condor and killed dad. He hid me and they didn't find me. I heard that they said I'm already as good as dead and just left. I went somewhere and arrived Junon after weeks. Everyone there ignored or glared at me, because of my wolf ears...But a woman accommodated me in her house and took care of me. But the townspeople found out and drummed me out of the town. I hide in this boat thing and landed in Costa Del Sol. The humans there also hated me, so I went away. That was the first time I changed into a wolf, by the way. I arrived North Corel, also a few weeks later. That's when I met Cid and his pack. I thought that they'll hate me too, but they were friendly and helped me to survive. About a week later, as I regained all my strength, they send me to Gongaga, because it's way to dangerous in this area and that Rinoa and Leon would take care of me better than they can. As I went there, I saw lots of human children, that had a weird disease where black liquid came out of the skin and that scared me. They said you'll get infect if you touch it, other said it's just a rumor. I went for days and became even more scared. I heard that everyone who had this disease died. I even saw a few kids died because of this...Just as I arrived the wood I began to think more about it. I wandered around the wood for hours and thought what if I never find this pack. Or what if the others lied to me just to get rid of me. Then I thought how long it'll take till I'll die, because someone like me doesn't have any chances of survival...And I haven't had a place to go. The humans hated me because of my father and the wolves hated me because of my mother...That's when I felt a painful sting on my forehead and as I saw the black liquid, I passed out. The last thing I remember is that I woke up in a tent and the pack, Cid told me about, took care of me."

Aerith hugged the little boy tightly. She didn't say anything. What should she say anyway? She thought about what he just said and put one and one together. „I guess I know why you got Geostigma..." Hope and Denzel pricked up and looked at her wide-eyed. „Tell us.", they said in unison, while Aerith began to explain. „You thought about death." The wolves tilted their heads, as she continued on. „I don't know what's the sense of it, but just now you thought about death too and then it hurt. It must've something to do with this disease...", she said thoughtfully.

„Hey.", began Hope and gained their attention. „I think that Bugenhagen might know something about this. He's in Cosmo Canyon and lives about a hundred years now. Let's go back and tell them about this." Aerith and Denzel nodded and went with Hope back to the pack.

**A.N.** That's all! As you read there's new pair: LightningxHope. And I also told you the story of one of the new charas^^ Every pack member has their own sad memory of the past. It mostly has something to do that someone dies who's dear to them. But at least their not alone. Like Cloud mentioned: They're like a big "happy" family. They're still not THAT happy, of course, but they at least became a family^^ And at last...Caius is a bit out of character and is one of the good packs^^ I don't know I just like him somehowXD

PLEASE REVIEW!;3


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